


Homecoming

by oceansgrey



Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fix-It, Found Family, Idiots in Love, Loss of Limbs, Nightmares, Survivor Guilt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-14
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-08-23 15:41:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 33,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20245252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oceansgrey/pseuds/oceansgrey
Summary: Mei mourns the loss of her beloved advisor, Ao wakes up in a hospital, alive but not the same.





	1. Waking Up

**Author's Note:**

> I got heavily inspired by [this amazing tumblr user's art](%E2%80%9Ctimethehobo.tumblr.com%E2%80%9D) and just had to write something.  
I also reread the Ao arc in Boruto and got sad, then rewatched the Five Kage Summit arc and got even more sad.

Mei came home from the war to an empty office, the elder resting in his home, no loud greeting from the village. She had led her shinobi home, the ones who had managed to survive, wounded but safe from harm, watching her people shuffle off to the shelter of their homes, to their loved ones. The public broadcast she had to sit through had been an hour of hell, trying to maintain an upbeat spirit for the speech she had made despite the ache in her bones.

Chojuro, the sweet boy, had hung around her side the entire trip, taking the now vacant spot by her right. He seemed to feel her sadness and had given her a short but polite goodbye before heading to his room.

She didn’t bother turning on the lights to her office, instead walking the too-familiar path to a shelf with a lantern.

The lantern lit, seated on her desk, she opened her lower desk drawer to where she hid a bottle of sake for the long days where she just needed a soothing drink.

The alcohol burned its way down her throat, but it was nothing compared to the sharp pain in her chest.

Gazing over at his seat, Mei felt the first burst of sobs, her shoulders shaking as the hot tears endlessly streamed.

It was war. She knew people were going to die. Hell, she and the other Kage almost died, the whole world almost ended, but she never expected Ao to go.

It had been too chaotic but hearing the news of the intel division’s destruction had been enough to shock her from the monotonous drone of fighting. All noises had dulled into a sharp ring from the effect of the blast from the Ten Tails, but as one of the leaders she forced herself through the shock and threw herself back into the fight.

She was home, now, and behind the locked doors of her office, she could just cry and mourn privately, away from the prying eyes of media.

Ao would yell at her for crying if he could see her now, chiding her for letting her emotions get to her. Ever the shinobi, always focusing on the logical aspect of things without sparing a second glance at one’s own emotions. There was no one better suited to be her advisor, and he was gone and it hurt.

He had been by her side since day one, even speaking on her behalf during the process of selecting the next Mizukage after Yagura’s death. Even years before that, when she was a young genin, she remembered looking up to him, an elite in her eyes. Few could boast about being one of the ANBU’s branch of hunter-nin, and he had made himself known for his skill and his deeds during the Third War.

Mei looked down at her bottle of sake, sniffling. The tears just kept coming, no matter how hard she tried to fight them off.

The fall night left a cold chill in her office, pulling her from her sad thoughts. Though the alcohol made her feel warm inside, it did little to stave off the chill in the air. Hoisting herself up, stumbling to maintain her balance, she grabbed the lantern and went over to the closet. For late nights in the office, she had kept a supply of blankets and even a spare futon for her to sleep on when the paperwork just seemed endless.

Holding the lantern over her head to see better, Mei moved to grab a spare blanket from the shelf, bundled neatly, and the spare pair of pajamas she kept. She would get the futon out in a bit, too tired to walk back to her apartment.

There were cheers from outside her window, the street lights still on despite the late hour. Taking the blanket and holding it close, she went to the window. It seemed that some of her shinobi were out drinking to celebrate, crowing at their success in preventing the end of the world.

Casualties of war were common. People were expected to die, yet she found herself hung up on one death in particular.

She shook her head, finally finished with her crying fit as she undressed. The softness of her pajamas, a present from Chojuro for her birthday, had helped calm her as she looked down at the little wave pattern on the silk.

She would always have him, her brilliant little swordsman. Now, it was time to devote herself to raising him and helping him grow into her successor as Mizukage one day.

The futon took only a minute to set up, placing the spare pillow on the ground with it. She gave the blanket a quick shake as she unrolled it, the dim light from the lantern revealing something falling out of it.

Mei didn’t recognize it until she had grabbed it, the thick fabric beneath her fingers. Why there was a turtleneck of Ao’s wrapped in the blanket, she wouldn’t know, but her eyes stung as tears began to form once again.

It smelled of him, of cedarwood and the sea, a smell that reminded her of home.

Mei held it close to her as she laid down, blowing out the light and letting herself cry until she fell asleep.

The last thing he remembered was the explosion, the noise so loud it temporarily deafened him, the flash of light so blinding he could barely see the forms of Shikaku Nara and Inoichi Yamanaka.

They had all accepted fate within those last moments. There was no hope to evacuate, to escape certain death. He had tried not to notice the two Konoha nin crying quietly as they said their goodbyes to their children, too focused on thinking of the last two people he truly would miss.

He had sensed them, both, on the battlefield. He had seen how badly beaten Mei was, how his Mizukage still stood on her own two feet despite having just been on the brink of death. Chojuro was off holding down area where the Daimyo were, acting as leader by giving orders, finally stepping into his role as the last Swordsman of the Mist. The thought had made him smile, knowing that the brat finally had listened to his constant nagging and finally showed his capability to be a Swordsman confidently.

He had accepted death then, willing to die during the war as a shinobi.

If he had died, then this sure felt like waking up.

“Good, you’re waking up,” a voice pulled him from his sleep.

He blinked his eye slowly, noticing the Byakugan was covered by heavy bandaging. The room was a blur of light, slowly coming into focus as he blinked. His gaze was met by a square-faced doctor who was smiling at him over the rim of his clipboard, glasses down on his nose.

“I’m Katasuke Tono, and I’ll be in charge of your physical therapy as you recover,” the stout man said, giving him a once-over. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions, and I’m more than willing to answer them,”

“Wh-?” it felt like sandpaper grating at his vocal cords when he tried to speak. He cleared his throat, looking at the doctor in confusion. “Where am I?”

“That’s a good question,” Dr. Tono said, giving him a wide smile. “You’re in a hospital just outside of Konoha,”

“What happ-”

“A team of medics went to go search the Intelligence division’s base to see if anyone survived the juubi’s blast,” Dr. Tono explained, coming to sit on the end of Ao’s bed. “And-”

“Where’s my foot?” Ao asked, panicking as he shifted to sit up. He went to move his left arm, scrambling for purchase against the back of his bed. “Where’s my arm?”

Katasuke watched his patient as the hardened Kiri nin began hyperventilating, the panic reflected on his heart monitor, erratic beeps from the machine filling the air in the room.

“Hey,” he said, placing a hand on Ao’s shoulder. “Breathe with me,”

After a minute of forcing him to breathe deeply, calming his heartbeat back to normal, Dr. Tono gave Ao a reassuring smile.

“I know this is hard,” he said. “But when we pulled you from the rubble, your arm was gone. Part of your leg was so badly damaged we had to amputate it. If you’re in any pain, let me know so we can do another round of painkillers,”

Katasuke grimaced as he remembered being there, the one to pull him out. Ao’s leg had been mangled beyond repair, and he had lost a lot of blood. The sensor had been completely knocked out cold, lacerations from the shrapnel covering his right side. Had the medics not known who was at the intel division and the stark blue hair, Ao probably would have gone unidentified until he woke up, given if he survived and wasn’t amnestic.

“Did anyone else survive?” Ao asked, already knowing the brutal truth. “Did Shikaku and Inoichi survive?”

“No, I’m afraid not,” Dr. Tono said. “We’re very fortunate to have won the war due to their efforts, and the efforts done by their children and their teammates,”

Ao let out a sigh of relief in knowing that the world hadn’t dissolved into chaos, his head dropping back onto his pillow. He had only worked with the two Konoha nin for a brief period, but he liked to think that had they all made it out of the war they would have been good friends.

“I’ll gladly fill you in on anything you wish to know,” Dr. Tono said. “You’ve been out for almost a six months due to the medical coma we put you in while your body recovered,”

“Half a year, huh?” Ao mumbled.

“Your home is doing well,”

Kiri. Home.

Ao closed his eyes, thinking back on his village.

He missed the salty smell of the air rolling off the bay, the way the mist felt cool against his skin. The early morning fog that hung low over the village as he sat out on the balcony of his apartment before he had to go begin his day, sipping a warm cup of tea.

Training ground twenty-one, where he would take Chojuro out to train. He missed the kid, no matter how much he scolded him. He would never admit out loud how he held a soft spot in his heart for the last Swordsman. He was an older shinobi, and when he was in his prime of his twenties he had been too concerned with winning his next battle or chasing after deserters under Yagura that he had put off dating of any kind and having children had never been a thought in his mind. With Chojuro, however, he had a glimpse of what fatherhood might have been for him. He was strict with the boy, sure, but he was always immensely proud whenever Chojuro did well.

He missed the beach off of the bay, the way the rocky shore looked beautiful in the night, the moon shining over the village high. He also missed the buildings, the familiar roads of the village. The one stall on the main road that always made the best fresh yakitori, or the place with the takoyaki that Mei loved so dearly that she had often sent him on quick trips to get her some.

His heart sank a bit as he thought of his Mizukage, of the parting peck on the cheek she had given him before they separated during the war, forcing him to promise her that he would come home.

He had been too flustered by the gesture to return her promise, but had recovered enough to chide her for babying Chojuro once she gave him a similar kiss to the cheek, the teen blushing profusely.

“We’re going to need to fit you for some prosthetics, Lord Ao,” Katasuke drew him from his homesick thoughts. “You’re going to feel some phantom pains for a while, but with these advanced prosthetics, created by your truly, you should be back on your feet in no time, and then you can go home,”

Home.

As the doctor continued to prattle off his prescriptions and other medical jargon, he sadly realized that home might not be home any longer.


	2. nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A year has passed, but it hurts all the same.

It had been a little over a year since the Fourth Great Ninja War ended, and Chojuro can’t help but notice the shift in Mei’s personality.

She still was her lovely self, the woman he admired the most. She had been the most impactful on his life, even moreso than Mangetsu, his mentor who trained him to be the last Swordsman of the Mist. She had ushered in multiple changes to Kirigakure’s system, the economy beginning to thrive and the village overall catching up from its setback from two tyrannical rulers. Her approval rating, always high, had skyrocketed to the point where out of the Five Great Nations, she managed to have the highest of all the Kage. Around the elders and villagers, Mei maintained her pleasant attitude, her overwhelming kindness radiating from her, but in the solitude of her home or office, her shine was noticeably duller. Chojuro was possibly the only person who could tell, since he was the one she was closest with. Outwardly, she looked the same, but he saw that something was genuinely upsetting her beneath the calm surface. He saw it in her face, how she sometimes stared a little too long out the large window of the office, a melancholy and longing look on her face. Her gaze usually tended to stray to her right whenever she was doing paperwork, eyeing the vacant seat by her desk where Ao used to sit and do paperwork with her.

“Lady Mizukage?” he asked once the Suna diplomat left her office, the door clicking shut behind him. “Is there something wrong?”

“Chojuro, dear,” Mei said, giving him a smile that looked a little too forced. “I told you, you can just call me Mei, no need for formalities,”

“Sorry, Mei,” he said, shifting awkwardly by her side as Hiramekarei rested against her desk. “It’s just that you look sad,”

“I’m fine, Chojuro,” she waved him off. “Just thinking about the academy budget. I’m sorry for making you worry,”

She stood, grabbing her Mizukage hat.

“How about,” she gave him a genuine smile this time. “We go out for something sweet? I’m in the mood for some taiyaki myself, and I know it’s your favorite,”

He gave her a smile in return, and only mildly complained when she reached out and pinched his cheek.

Chojuro missed Ao.

He watched as Mei threw herself into her work, seemingly endless efforts to force the shinobi world to look at the Mist in a peaceful light, to forget the horrors of the Bloody Mist. He noticed the shift in her personality after the war, and while he initially assumed it was due to the fight she endured with the other Kage, he realized it was from the loss of their favorite sensor.

Chojuro missed him terribly. Ao always yelled at him for being unsure of himself, for lacking confidence in his actions, but he did so from a stance as a hardened shinobi that Chojuro looked up to and admired. He remembered shaking in his shoes when he first met the hero of their village, how Ao had immediately launched into a five minute rant over his posture and how he was nervous to respond when spoken to.

He never told Ao or Mei aloud, but he viewed both of them as parental figures, having grown up an orphan.

Ao always was stern with him, strict in the sense of how a father would be strict with his children. He was someone Chojuro admired, strong and prideful and determined. He was knowledgeable from his many years of active duty as a shinobi, someone Chojuro learned from. Even when he was getting scolded, he knew it was from Ao wanting to help him grow as a man.

Mei had been the first to acknowledge his potential, and he remembered her kind smile as she passed by him, giving him a small wave. Looking across the table of the café they sat at, watching her sip her tea and nibble on some mochi, he remembered the first time he had met her and coincidentally, two of the most dangerous rogue Swordsmen of his lifetime.

_“My, what a darling little boy,” she said, kneeling down to his level. “You must be Mangetsu’s newest protégé,”_

_“Y-yes, I am,” Chojuro said, hands nervously fumbling with the straps to his cow print overalls. “My name is Chojuro,”_

_Mei smiled at him before looking up at her teammates. Chojuro was nervous, Mangetsu behind him. _

_“Can the whelp even speak without stuttering?” Zabuza Momochi said, voice gruff as he shouldered his sword. “Where’d you find the brat, ‘getsu?” _

_“He’s an academy student,” Mangetsu said, placing his hands on Chojuro’s shoulders. “Tell ‘em, kid,”_

_“I’m five,” Chojuro said, holding out a hand with his fingers splayed for them to see._

_Kisame let out a loud laugh, clutching his side as he leaned onto Zabuza. _

_“He’s too soft for a swordsman,” he said. “How are you gonna make this kid a swordsman? He’s as harmless as a baby,”_

_“Didn’t realize the Swordsmen were so desperate for members that we have to snatch kids out of preschool,” Zabuza said. “Go send him back to the academy for his snack and naptime,” _

_“Hush, you two!” Mei said, standing up and smacking both of her teammates upside the head. Chojuro looked up at the two terrifying men as they grumbled, rubbing the sore spots. “He has potential. He’ll make an excellent swordsman someday,”_

_“Whatever you say, Mei,” Kisame rolled his eyes. _

_ “You’ve never seen him wield a sword,” Mangetsu said, shooting them a snaggletoothed grin. “Kid’s a natural born prodigy,”_

_ “We have to go,” Zabuza said. “We need to leave,” _

_“Going on another mission?” Mangetsu asked. _

_“We have to go find the intel leak in the Land of Sea,” Mei said. “We’ll be on Jiro Island. If I come home alone it means I buried these two there,”_

_“Hey,” Zabuza elbowed her. “As if you could kill us that easy,”_

_“We might just leave you there to grow old and ugly,” Kisame teased. “You’ll be the witch of the island,” _

_Mei glared at her teammates, the boys erupting into laughter once more. _

_“We’re heading out,” Kisame waved, Zabuza at his side as they began walking. “See you later, Mangetsu,”_

_“Have a safe trip,” Mangetsu waved. “Don’t kill each other,”_

_“Not promising anything,” Zabuza called before they began walking further down the street. “Bye, Mei, we’re leaving without you!”_

_“Have fun swimming to the island when we take the boat!” Kisame called. _

_“Boys only boat!” Zabuza added before giving Kisame a shove to keep moving. “No girls allowed!” _

_“Boys!” she huffed, shaking her head at her childhood friends._

_Mei knelt down before Chojuro once again, pulling something from her jonin vest. _

_“Don’t listen to the boys, Chojuro, dear,” she said, taking his hands in hers and pressing a smooth aquamarine stone into his palm. “Train hard with Mangetsu and I’m sure you’ll be stronger than those two someday. Take this stone as a token of my promise, okay?”_

_Chojuro nodded quickly, his glasses sliding down his face. She let out a sweet laugh, pushing them up for him. _

_“Here’s a good luck charm,” she said, leaning to press a small kiss to his cheek. “Goodbye,”_

_With that, she stood and left, leaving Chojuro starstruck by her encouraging words, her divine smile._

_Mangetsu chuckled, drawing him from his awe. _

_“She left a kissy mark on your cheek,” he teased, poking the deep purple lipstick mark. “Mei’s one of a kind,” _

“Chojuro?”

Chojuro startled, pulling himself from his reminiscing.

“Chojuro, is something wrong?” Mei asked, head tilted in confusion.

“No, nothing’s wrong,” Chojuro said, shaking his head. “Just thinking,”

Chojuro gave her a reassuring smile, thinking back to the stone she had given him and how it rested on the nightstand beside his bed, a reminder that she had faith in him.

Mei forced herself into a monotonous schedule, breaking from it to go inspect the new warden at the Blood Prison. While she genuinely enjoyed the company of her fellow Kage, especially Gaara, the charming young man who, despite being practically a child upon gaining the Kazekage seat, had grown into a splendid leader, she missed the solitude of her home.

It’d been a year and a half, but the pain still lingered, she realized as she clicked the lock shut on her door, her back against the wood. Travelling and dealing with the Tsuchikage was exhausting, and all she wanted to do was sleep.

A night without her guards stationed at her door was rare, and Mei decided to cherish the solitude. She stripped, tossing aside her dirty clothing as she padded to the bathroom, ready to draw herself a hot bath.

As the bath ran, she grabbed one of the candles she had picked up during a trip to Kumo, inhaling the sweet herbal scent. The candlemaker had said it would help calm her and bring relaxing thoughts, and it was one she used on days when the aching hole in her chest grew too large.

Pouring some scented oils into the hot water and lighting the candle, Mei set to tying her hair up into a bun.

The water was hot, too hot to where it tingled against her skin painfully, but she allowed herself to feel it as she slipped into the water, letting it cover up to her shoulders.

Letting out a sigh, she rested her head back on the small hand towel she had folded as a makeshift headrest, closing her eyes.

Hands.

Hands in her hair, pulling, tugging, yet gentle, calloused from constant use.

Mei snapped her eyes open, suddenly noticing she was in her bed. She must have fallen asleep, lying on her side. Someone was in her bed with her, her shoulders instinctively tensing.

It had been years and despite how long she had been waking up by his side, she still tensed, ever the kunoichi.

“Your hair is getting longer,” a voice she hadn’t heard in almost two years said behind her. “You might want to get it cut, Lady Mizukage,”

Mei let out a small laugh, turning to her side to look at him. He looked the same as ever, the soft look in his eye reserved only for her. She let a hand reach out, thumb grazing over the eyepatch concealing the Byakugan.

“Should I cut my hair?” she asked.

“Possibly,” Ao shrugged. “If you want,”

“How many times have I told you to just call me ‘Mei,’ Ao?”

“Too many to count,” he said, the hand that was tangled in her hair coming to tilt her chin up at him. “Good morning,”

“Good morning,” the smile on his lips felt nice as she slotted hers against them. He pulled her close, and Mei let him press her head to his chest, his heartbeat a steady rhythm beneath her ear.

“So beautiful,” he murmured, a hand coming back to her hair. “Such a waste,”

_A waste?_ Mei frowned, about to pick her head up when he suddenly yanked, a fistful of her auburn hair coming with it.

“Ao! What are you-” she screamed, gaze coming to his face. She was cut off by the horrendous visage before her, his charred corpse holding her tight with a vice-like grip as her hair began to fall out in clumps. All she could smell was seared flesh, the terrible iron of blood, the smell of the pollen from the wood style she had endured, smells that haunted her. She choked back a sob, the sudden rise of bile climbing up her throat painfully, worse that the sear of her lava jutsu.

“You left me to die,” he hissed, a boney hand coming to squeeze her shoulder tight enough the bone creaked and shattered beneath his grasp. “You never looked for me. You never buried me,”

“I’m sorry,” she cried, shaking her head. This was not Ao, not her Ao. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,”

“Always the bridesmaid, never the bride, Mei,” he had her pinned beneath him, his lips near her ear, and Mei shut her eyes tight. “Who would want to marry an old hag like you?”

_Release,_ she thought, tears streaming down her face. _Please, let this genjutsu be released. _

Mei’s eyes snapped open, water filling her mouth as she opened it to scream. She pulled herself out of the water, leaning against the cool side of the tub as she sputtered. She had been so tired she had fallen asleep in the bath, and she was lucky she didn’t drown herself.

Fear still coursed through her veins, her heart trying to leap out of her breast as it rammed against her ribcage painfully.

“It was just a nightmare,” she whispered to herself, gripping the cool side of the tub to ground herself. “Just a nightmare…”

She had had her fair share of nightmares, ranging from the purge of her family during the Bloody Mist, dying in battle, faces of dead old teammates coming to haunt her in her dreams.

None as terrifying as this, though.

It took Mei twenty minutes to calm herself down, shaking off the leftover anxiety from her nightmare. Wrapped in a towel as she sat on the floor, focusing her chakra to force herself to steady herself in order to get some sleep.

Not that she really wanted to sleep, since it risked another nightmare, but she did have a village to lead in the morning.

Shakily, she stood, quietly going back into her bedroom. Her gaze shifted to the turtleneck she had found in her office, now no longer smelling of Ao due to how often she had worn it to bed. It did little to soothe the fear in her from the nightmare, but she slipped on a pair of soft sleeping shorts and then the turtleneck, enjoying the softness of the fabric, the way it slid down to the middle of her thighs. Kiri was always colder than the other villages, and the fall chill had settled into the night.

Mei pulled back the covers of her bed, exhausted from the panic her nightmare had brought. Clicking the light off, she nuzzled up to her pillow and closed her eyes.

She felt a deep regret pool in her stomach as she thought of all the times she had threatened Ao, wishing she could have just set aside her duty as Mizukage for a second to let her be a woman in love.

Maybe he would have reciprocated it, but she worried it would simply be him “following his duty” as a shinobi, or as her advisor. She would never force him to love her, but she had always wondered if he ever thought of her the way she thought of him.

Mei forced herself to stop thinking about it, willing herself to fall into a dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a tidbit about the nightmare Mei has: I wrote that her hair was falling out because recently I had a nightmare where all my hair fell out and apparently dream symbolism says it's caused by a fear of losing one's youthful appearance/sex appeal, and I figured that worked pretty well with Mei's character.  
Thank you for reading!


	3. Rehabilitation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ao gripes with survivor's guilt and Katasuke really wishes he would take it easy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A scene in this chapter is inspired by this wonderful piece!

Two years.

From what Ao knew, based on the calendar in Katasuke’s office, it had been almost two years since the Fourth War. A year and a half since he woke up, six months since he started physical therapy.

Two years since he had been home.

“You’re doing progressively well the more you use the prosthetics, and we’re very happy with your results,” Katasuke rambled, shuffling through his papers for Ao’s physical therapy. “And it seems that you’re getting used to channeling your chakra into your hand prosthetic, and even without the Byakugan you’re still good at sensing. Your chakra reserves are coming back at a decelerated rate, but you’ve gotten better at compensating for it…”

His words faded into background noise as Ao focused out the window of his office, the trees and the village outside it. They had recently been taking small trips outside, to get him used to being back amongst the civilians, but his own anxiety was starting to affect their trips.

Ao hated looking at himself in the mirror. He saw a shell of the man he once was, no longer a shinobi. His days of glory were behind him, and it made him bitter inside. He hated looking at the scars from the blast, littering the right side of his body. Without the cover on his eye, he looked older, the socket where the Byakugan formally rested now just a blinded eye, wrinkles beginning to set into place alongside the heavy scarring.

He looked just like an old man now, something he never expected to see.

Ao clenched his fists from where they rested in his lap.

He should have died.

He should have died with the rest of the Intelligence Division. Surviving on a whim disgusted him and knowing that he would have to go back to being a shinobi through the use of tools disgusted him even more.

He should have died. Inoichi and Shikaku had kids, and from what he had heard from Katasuke’s small talk, they were getting married. They should have lived instead of him, so Inoichi could walk his daughter down the aisle, so Shikaku could gripe about being a grandfather despite how much he would have loved it.

He should have died, he should have died, he should have-

“Lord Ao?” Katasuke said, head cocked to the side. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,”

“You’re bleeding,” Katasuke noted, and Ao could taste the tang of iron in his mouth. He must have bit down on his lip hard enough to break the skin. “Are you alright? Answer truthfully,”

Ao sighed, standing from his seat.

“I’m done talking,” he huffed, and he left the doctor sitting in confusion.

“I can do this,” he repeated to himself, looking at the building in front of him. “I got this,”

Ao channeled his chakra to the bottom of his feet, hating the lag in the chakra pooling to his prosthetic foot. Tentatively, he put a foot on the side of the building.

It stuck.

He gave himself a small smile before moving the other foot to join, taking shaky steps as he began to scale the building.

“Lord Ao!” Katasuke shouted, running across the courtyard of the rehabilitation center. “Stop walking up the wall!”

“Why not?” Ao asked bitterly, moving the prosthetic leg. His movement wobbled for a bit, but he planted his foot down, already three stories up.

“Because you’ll fall!”

“No, I won’t,”

“You might!” Katasuke brought his hands up to pull at his hair. “You’re still recovering!”

“I’m fine!” Ao insisted despite the trembling in his frame.

Katasuke shook his head, wondering how he got such a stubborn patient. Ao was a good man, a stubborn old shinobi, but if he did things like this to try to prove that he was better instead of opening up about what really was bothering him, Katasuke might have a heart attack.

“Oh,” Ao said suddenly, and Katasuke looked up as he lost his footing, falling from four stories.

Katasuke screamed, running towards him, and Ao remembered the blueness of the sky before his back slammed into the ground, blacking out.

“Ao, wake up,”

Ao opened his eyes, looking around at his surroundings. He was in the Mizukage’s office, Mei seated at her desk. She looked just as he remembered, every bit perfect and dangerous wrapped into one beautiful package. The concerned look she gave him made his heart stutter a moment in his chest, the way her auburn tresses fell across her face when she tilted her head to the side.

“Ao, you fell asleep,” she said, lips turned down into a cute pout, her painted lips so kissable. “I was expecting my advisor to remain awake during these sessions,”

“I apologize, Lady Mizukage,” he said, looking down. His arm was there, holding it out as he clenched and unclenched his left hand, noticing the way his fingers were flesh, the way his foot impatiently tapped.

“We should take a break,” she said, standing from her desk. Mei circled his chair, resting her hands on his shoulders. “You’re tense,”

“I’m sorry-”

“Stop apologizing, dear,” Mei smiled down at him, her hands already working to loosen the tightness in his shoulders. He suddenly focused on the ring on her left finger, the ring he vaguely remembered his own mother wearing when he was just a boy. “How many times do I have to tell you that you don’t have to be so stiff now that we’re married?”

“Married?” he whispered, more to himself.

She let out a laugh, sweet as ever.

“Of course! Don’t you remember? Unless you’re getting too old,” she teased.

“I-”

“The Raikage was there and his brother sang that atrocious song for us? The Hokage got too drunk and accidentally knocked over our wedding cake? It was a disaster; how could you forget?”

He laughed at the memory.

“I didn’t forget, Mei. How could I forget the best day of my life?”

He loved the way her name rolled off his tongue with ease, how his honesty made Mei smile so brightly just for him.

Mei leaned down, pressing a hot kiss to his cheek.

“I love you,” she said, wrapping her arms around him and holding him tightly. “I love you, Ao-”

“Wake up, Ao,”

Ao woke up, feeling the spot where Mei had kissed him in his dream hot on his face.

It was just Katasuke, smiling at him from where Ao laid in his bed.

“You took quite the fall,” Katasuke said. “Let’s not do that again, shall we?”

Ao nodded.

“I have a surprise for you!” Katasuke announced, coming into Ao’s room with something hidden behind his back.

Ao was forever grateful to the doctor for all the effort he had put into his rehabilitation, but he knew that crazed look in his eye. That was the look of a scientist excited to test out a new experiment.

“What is it?” Ao asked.

“Come here,” Katasuke waved him over. Ao pushed himself up out of bed with his good arm, still struggling a bit from the nerve damage. The replacement leg prosthetic fit better than the one he had accidentally broken during his little scaling excursion, but it still felt strange being up and walking with it.

He sat down in front of Katasuke, eyes shut as the doctor began to change his arm prosthetic. He must have come up with a new model overnight, since Ao had only had this arm for about a week.

“Okay!” Katasuke clapped, tightening the last screw. “Funnel your chakra into the arm,”

Ao focused his chakra into the appendage, watching as he flexed his fingers, unclenching his fist.

“Good, good!” Katasuke cheered. “Try focusing on the point of your elbow!”

An audible _shing!_ startled Ao in his seat, a large blade extended from his elbow.

“It worked!”

“What did you do to my arm?”

“I gave it a blade! Isn’t it cool?”

The gleeful look on the doctor’s face, the way his eyes wrinkled from how hard he was smiling made his protests die on his lips.

“Thank you,” Ao said. “Now, how do I get it to retract?”

As Katasuke rambled about the mechanics, he let himself get lost in his words. He didn’t mind appeasing his doctor since he had done so much for him.

He kept dreaming of Mei.

Ao was not allowed to have any form of viewing media during his rehabilitation, something about it distracting him as Katasuke had explained, but he kept seeing her face, the same as he left her whenever he closed his eyes to sleep.

Sometimes, it was just dreams of him resuming his work as her advisor, sitting and doing paperwork together. Others were more complex.

The other night he had a dream where he held her as she sobbed loudly, crying about being barren and unmarriageable. The night before that he had had a dream of her in his bed, dreaming as if he were a teenager again. He once had a dream where he, Mei and Chojuro were simply together at the beach, Chojuro splashing about like an excited child while Mei buried him in the sand, giggling uncontrollably as she piled sand onto him.

Last night, he had just dreamt of being able to hold her, laying in bed together as she smiled sweetly, face bare of makeup and hair pulled back to show her beautiful face. She had looked so real, so perfect that when he had woken up alone he nearly screamed into his pillow.

He laid in bed, staring up at the blank ceiling.

He was in love for the first time, and he had denied it for nearly five years.

It was love at first sight, he thought. The sight of Mei, battle weary in her jonin garb as she trudged through the gates tiredly with her team, Ao waiting with the elder for her.

He had the privilege of greeting her for the first time, a pivotal moment in both of their lives.

“Welcome home, Godaime Mizukage,” he had said to her, hand on her hat as he extended it out to her.

The smile she had gave him still send chills down his spine when he thought of the memory, how beautiful she had looked covered in mud and blood of the enemies she had fought.

The love grew the more he was by her side, but he had suppressed it for the sake of doing his duty as her advisor. Mei was younger than him, and though she had an irrational fear of not being able to marry, she was much prettier than any woman he had ever seen and he wasn’t the handsomest shinobi in the world. Men should have thrown themselves at her feet, but he knew it was due to her two kekkei genkai that had made her unapproachable. Suitors were scared of a powerful woman, of a woman who was stronger than them, but Ao loved it. He loved that if she truly wanted, she could kill him in a second, the strength behind those small hands, that elegant persona, deadly. He had seen Mei take on her own former teammates, rogue nin who towered over her and outweighed her, with ease.

It wasn’t just her power or her beauty. She was kind, and while he griped about how she coddled Chojuro, he saw the way she treated him as if he were her own. He had seen the way she would stop and greet small children when they were walking through the main streets of Kiri, how she kept candy in a special pouch of her pack just to give to children. He had seen her assist elderly people just for the sake of doing so, seen her bend over backwards for the people of their village just because she was their leader, the one they looked to. In the three years he was blessed to work by her side, he had seen her transform what had once been the Bloody Mist into a thriving village working away from it’s vile past.

He loved her so much.

She thought he was dead, and with how he looked due to the accident, she would never accept him.

He raised his prosthetic arm, feeling the phantom pain lingering from where his arm was amputated at the shoulder.

He scowled at his limb.

She would never love an incomplete man, never mind an old man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is kinda sad :(  
Thank you for reading!


	4. Letting It Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katasuke finally gets some answers. It would be nice if Ao would stop giving him a heart attack at every turn, though.

“I think you need mental therapy,” Katasuke said honestly as he checked in on Ao. The former Mist nin let out something akin to a grunt of acknowledgement, his gaze fixed outside the window of his room. “This is the third time this week you’ve pushed yourself, and you’re only making your recovery worse,”

“I’m not,”

“Yes, you are,” Katasuke let out a sigh, coming to block the view and force Ao to look at him. “If you keep ignoring my orders, I won’t hesitate to put you on bedrest,”

“You wouldn’t,”

“Oh, I would. Stop pushing yourself past your limit,”

Ao scowled, Katasuke matching his facial expression with a frown. It had been three months since the building incident, and it seemed that his patient kept wanting to give him heart attack after heart attack. First, Ao falls while trying to climb a building. Then, he passes out from overusing his chakra because he decided to try putting a genjutsu on a nurse to let him out of his room. Not even a month after that Katasuke caught him in the recreational room, pinned under a barbell with way too many weights on it, the wrist on his prosthetic arm broken at an odd angle.

Something was bothering him inside, and he refused to speak out about it and it infuriated Katasuke. He couldn’t properly work with Ao if he kept bottling everything up.

Then again, he was a shinobi. Most shinobi repressed their emotions, their feelings, especially a shinobi hardened by years of living through the Bloody Mist and a revolution.

“Speaking to someone might help,” he pressed.

“I talk to you, don’t I?”

“Ao, I’m a scientist, not a therapist,” Katasuke responded. “Give it a try? For me, if not for you,”

He didn’t receive a response, the tired doctor letting out a heavy sigh.

“You’ll meet with her tomorrow in the morning,” he said, turning to leave. “Please, just try,”

He was met with more silence, the door the only noise in the room as he shut it behind him.

Katasuke was met with an empty room early the next morning, the therapist in tow.

Katasuke was _furious_.

“Where is he?” he nearly shouted, startling the poor nurse who was coming out of another patient’s room.

“Who?”

“My patient!” Katasuke said. “Have you seen him?”

The nurse shook her head, gripping the clipboard in her hands tight as she moved out of the way of the doctor.

“How did he leave his room unnoticed?” the therapist asked, an eyebrow quirked.

“He was ANBU,” Katasuke sighed, rubbing his hands over his face. “He couldn’t have gone far,”

“How do you lose a patient?”

“You underestimate him,” he mumbled, turning the corner to head outside the rehabilitation center.

It took Katasuke three grueling hours of searching every nook and cranny of the surrounding area before he finally found his patient.

“You idiot,” Katasuke mumbled, walking onto the training ground on the outskirts of the town. “Of course, you’d be here,”

“Hey,” Ao gave a weak wave with his hand.

“You overdid it, didn’t you?”

“Yeah,”

“Need help getting up?”

Ao was silent from where he was, laying with his back flat on the ground. He looked exhausted, sweaty and panting from his spot. The snapped tree limbs gave Katasuke an inkling that he had decided to try training off by himself and lost control or exhausted himself too quickly before taking yet another fall.

After a moment of silence, Katasuke knelt down beside Ao.

“Do you want to get better?” he asked, genuinely curious. “Because it seems to me you keep delaying your recovery by injuring yourself,”

Ao frowned, and Katasuke gave him a pensive look.

“You just want to not feel useless, so you’re forcing yourself to train like how you used to,”

He was met with more silence, the stubborn bastard.

Katasuke was determined to make him talk.

He laid down beside him, staring up at the sky. It was a nice enough day, a little too hot for his liking, but he was wearing a lab coat. As angry as he was for Ao skipping out of meeting with the therapist, it at least gave him a break to go outside and enjoy the weather even if it was because he had been frantically searching for the other man. 

“I’m right, aren’t I?”

Ao let out a huff.

“Silent treatment,” Katasuke shrugged. “If you want to play a child’s game as a grown adult, fine, we can play that, but I still think you’re doing all of this on purpose. Is it because you’re afraid to go home?”

“I’m not going back to Kiri,”

“Ah, he speaks!”

Ao shot the doctor a glare, Katasuke unfazed by the murderous look.

“I know that if we had met a few years ago, and I was your enemy, I wouldn’t stand a chance before you would have taken me out,” Katasuke admitted. “But just because you got injured doesn’t make you useless,”

“I feel useless,” Ao admitted.

“See? You just need to express how you feel more, and then you’ll have taken the first step,”

_“Don’t cry!” his father shouted at him, looking down at him from where he had fallen during their spar. “Real men don’t cry. Get back up, Ao,”_

_“But it hurt!” he cried, wiping his face with the back of his hand. _

_“Do you think the enemy will care about your feelings when it’s life or death?” his father asked. “Get back up,”_

_He had just made chunin when he heard his parents died on a mission together, suppressing the ache in his heart to throw himself back onto the battlefield, the way they would have wanted him to. _

_For the sake of the village, he fought. _

_“Captain!” the ANBU in the dolphin mask shouted. “Ahead!” _

_Once they got to the clearing, Ao fought down the bile climbing in his throat, his gut wrenched. _

_Miru, his student. His pupil from his first and only genin team. She was the student he bragged about to the other jonin senseis, his pride as a teacher reflected in how skilled of a kunoichi she was._

_The heavy rain did little to hide the deep gashes from where a sword had cut her down._

_“I heard it was the monster,” another ANBU said, lightly knocking another dead member of the Cypher Division onto his back. “He killed the whole damn team, and for what?”_

“I…”

“Go on,” Katasuke encouraged. “You can tell me. We’re friends,”

“Friends,” Ao snorted. “You’re my doctor,”

“But I care about your wellbeing,” Katasuke rolled over onto his stomach so he could look at Ao more clearly. “So talk to me, because we’re friends,”

“It’s my fault,” he said.

“What’s your fault?”

“My genin student died,”

It brought a bittersweet memory, a brief flash of Miru’s excited little face as she had looked up to him, jumping up and down. He used to make his team wait on the docks at an ungodly hour of the morning, but she always was ready, wide eyed and eager to learn. She had been a quick learner, a kunoichi with immense potential.

She had also been the only one of his genin team to survive their first A-rank, leaving her to be his sole pupil.

He had put everything on hold during that time in his life to thoroughly prepare her, and he had been the proudest jonin sensei when it had been announced that she had been promoted to chunin.

Just another reminder of his failures, he thought bitterly, not even two months after her promotion he found her dead body amongst the others of the Cypher Division.

He had confronted the monster about it, seething with anger at the loss of his student while Mei’s former teammate just looked down at him with a toothy grin.

“My specialty is killing comrades,” Kisame had told him. “I did it for the village. Don’t you kill our comrades for the village, too? Or is it different because Yagura brands them as traitors?”

He had been so disgusted by the teen’s response that he had simply shoved him and stalked off, too angry to act. Roughly a year after that encounter, he was on the search team of hunter nin to track him down after he assassinated the feudal lord, the trail running cold around the border of the Land of Waves.

That had been years ago but the wound ached from time to time, especially on the anniversary of that mission.

“Did you kill her?”

“No,” Ao shook his head. “She was killed, but it was my fault,”

He clenched his fist. He had always wanted to avenge her death, but that was no longer possible.

“How?”

“I was the one who recommended her for the Cypher Division. I was the one who told the head of the department about her skill and how she was my equal when it came to genjutsu, and I somewhat threatened him to let her join. If I hadn’t done that, if I had kept her as my student for just a little longer instead of focusing on ANBU, I could have saved her,”

Katasuke hummed, taking a moment to process what Ao had told him.

“Have you told anyone this before?”

“No, you’re the first,”

“That’s improvement,” Katasuke said. “Go on. Let it out,”

The doctor was startled when he noticed Ao’s good eye mist up, the slight hitch in his breath.

“She was my best student,” he said, biting his lip to keep it from trembling. “And I never got to avenge her death, and her death was my fault,”

“I’m sorry,” Katasuke apologized, a hand coming to give Ao’s shoulder a quick squeeze. “Is that the only reason you feel useless?”

It was silent for a minute, before Ao sighed.

“No,”

“Do you regret surviving?”

“Cutting right to the deep questions,” Ao noted. “…Yes,”

Katasuke frowned.

“Is that why you don’t want to go back home?”

“Everyone thinks I’m dead. Why should I go home? I’m just a relic of their past. I would have been better off dead, anyway,”

“Well, you’re alive whether you like it or not. You talk as if you’re ancient. Surely your village misses you,”

"I doubt that,"

"You never know. Why are you so deadset that you don't deserve to be alive right now?"

“I'm not the shinobi I once was anymore. I always thought I was going to die a hero’s death,” Ao said. “Die fighting for my village. I almost died during the Third War, when I lost my eye. I almost died fighting Shisui Uchiha. I almost died during the Summit if it wasn’t for her-”

“Her? Who’s ‘her’?”

“The Mizukage. She saved me from dying when I was stuck in a Mind Transfer Jutsu,”

“I forgot you were her aide,” Katasuke hummed as he thought. “Should I write to let her know you’re here?”

“No!”

Katasuke raised an eyebrow at the sudden outburst.

“Why not?”

Ao frowned, looking away.

“Do you think she’ll think you’re not worthy of being her aide since the accident?” Katasuke asked, stepping in uncomfortable territory.

“No,”

“Then why not go back to see her, if not for your village?”

He was making so much progress, getting him to open up about his emotions. Katasuke was a little upset that it had taken three months of constant incidents and small injuries to get here, but it was improvement.

“Does she know?”

“No. No one outside of the center knows,”

“Keep it that way,” Ao demanded. “And help me get up,”

“Alright, alright,” Katasuke chuckled, getting up off the ground. “Let’s check on your leg. It looks like you bent a rod out of place. I’m going to stop making prosthetics if you keep breaking them,”

“No, you won’t,” Ao said, taking Katasuke’s hand and accepting the help to get back to his feet. “You’re a scientist. You like making these things,”

“I suppose you’re right,” Katasuke gave him a smile, looping his arm under him to help Ao walk back. “But I don’t mind lending you my shoulder to lean on from time to time, when you need it,”

Ao gave him a small smile. 

A step in the right direction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They're working together now!  
Thank you so much for reading!  
:)


	5. Godaime Mizukage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mei's inauguration as Mizukage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was getting emotional writing the next bit to the main plot, and then I got thinking about what Mei's inauguration would be like and how it would be celebrated, so I wrote this.

Mei liked to think that she was prepared once she stood before her village, the elder on one side of her, Ao on the other. Chojuro stood behind her, watching her back as she placed the hat on top of her head, formally taking her position of office as the Godaime Mizukage.

It felt like a dream come true because it was. When she was a little girl, right before the purges and before she entered the academy, she had told her parents that she would be the village’s first female Mizukage someday, and she had been right.

Her mother had pressed a kiss to her forehead, hot like the jutsu she spat, telling her that instead of Mizukage, she should focus on finding a good husband. Her father, whose glare was as deadly as his acid technique, had told Mei she could become whoever she wanted to be.

She had told her best friends when they were growing up, constantly fighting with Zabuza over who would eventually become Mizukage with Kisame usually stuck watching the two bicker. They fought over who would get the title for the year they were genin, the three years they were chunin, and then for half a year as jonin before the trio split. When she was denied the candidacy test for the Swordsmen and her fellow teammates were approved, she still persisted without them, determined to prove herself.

If she couldn’t become one of the Legendary Swordsmen of the Mist, a title one held with prestige, then she would simply become the best kunoichi the village ever saw. She didn’t need a sword when she was the combination of two of the strongest bloodlines the village had from its foundation and had survived growing up in the Bloody Mist due to her sheer strength, she reasoned. Either way, the shinobi of her village knew not to underestimate her lest they be on the receiving end of her lava style.

Zabuza became a Swordsman first, the first of the lowest caste to gain the title.

Kisame was the second but only after he revealed that he had killed his mentor due to Fuguki selling information to rival villages and clans for the sake of wealth. 

One by one they left.

The last time she had seen them, she had dragged them out to their favorite restaurant to catch up. Zabuza had been oddly quiet, lacking his usual sharp tongue, and Kisame had ignored any attempt at conversation. She had left after being frustrated with their silence, storming back to her apartment.

The next day, Zabuza was branded a traitor, Yagura’s guards a disgusting pile of mutilated flesh that she had been tasked to deal with. Her acid release wiped away any trace of his attack.

The failed coup d’état had put her in Yagura’s watchful eye from association, Zabuza having fled with the promise he would come back and change the village one day.

Kisame left the year after that, leaving her alone to fulfil her dream. Last she had heard, he was with some organization based out in Amegakure, far from their home.

A part of her wished they could see her now, that she had accomplished what they had all wanted as children. That part of her wished they were standing with her, the deadliest trio the Hidden Mist had ever produced in charge of protecting the village they had grown in and learned to love despite the hardships of the Bloody Mist.

The rational part of her knew that they never would have stood by her side. It was fate that they had parted.

Just three days ago she was coming home from her S-rank mission as one of the top jonin in their arsenal and now she stood before the inhabitants of the village as their leader.

Only the strongest shinobi in the village was suited to be the Kage, and the one who had been the best fit to lead. Sitting in on the formal council, hearing her fellow shinobi vouch for her candidacy, and even one of the village’s war heroes, she was stunned to know that she was to be Yagura’s replacement upon the unanimous decision by the council.

“Lady Mizukage,” Ao whispered, pulling her from her thoughts. “Go ahead,”

Mei took in a deep breath before taking her first step forward as Mizukage, the cacophonous cheering from the villagers the only thing she could hear.

Putting on her best smile, she grabbed her hat and raised it above her head, praying the tears of joy didn’t start until after she was done.

“By my title of Mizukage, I promise to protect this village with my very life!” she announced, only to be met with more jovial cheers.

She let out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding, allowing herself to become overwhelmed with happiness.

As per Kage custom, there was an honorary dinner held after the ceremony in which the Kage got together and welcomed the newest. It was a formal event, one held privately compared to the public affair of her succession of office.

“Chojuro, fix your tie,” Ao said. “It’s crooked,”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Chojuro mumbled, adjusting his tie.

“Speak clearly,”

“Sorry, sir,”

Why Mei personally chose him as her guard, he had no idea. Ao was older, experienced and could easily protect Mei if needed, not that she really needed protecting. However, she had mentioned that having the last Swordsman of the Mist as her personal guard was respecting fact that traditionally, at least for the first three, they were the Mizukage’s guard. Yagura had been too paranoid of everyone he had close, killing those left and right that he thought disapproved of him.

Chojuro was only sixteen and he wielded Hiramekarei well, but he seemed as meek and timid as a mouse.

“It’s still crooked,” Ao huffed, motioning Chojuro to come over to him. “Who taught you how to tie this?”

“No one,” he admitted.

“That explains a lot. The youth these days, not knowing how to tie a tie properly…” Ao mumbled, undoing the tie to fix it. “I’m only going to show you this once, so pay attention,”

“Yes, sir,”

“Chojuro, you bring the wide end of the tie up through the hole between your collar and the tie. Then pull it down toward the front. Then, bring the wide end behind the narrow end and to the right…”

Chojuro got distracted by Ao’s drone of instructions as he peered over the sensor’s shoulder to the entrance of the room, a flash of blue drawing his eye.

“Bring the wide end up through the loop a third time-” Ao looked at Chojuro’s face, noticing the awed look. “Chojuro! Are you paying attention?”

“Wow,” Chojuro’s eyes were wide, even wider from the view of his goggles as he stared starstruck. “Lady Mizukage, you look beautiful,”

By how breathless and stunned the teen seemed, Ao gave a bit of a hard yank when he finished tying his tie, taking Chojuro’s squawking as he adjusted it to steal a glance at Mei.

After the ceremony, she had been pulled away by the seamstress who was in charge of all the Mizukages formal attire, excited to finally work with a woman after making suits for four men. The old woman had put her in a navy blue silk dress, the color reminiscent of the rolling waves of the ocean in the moonlight. He tried not to stare at the way the silk clung to her form effortlessly, the way the dress tapered out at her waist, the way the lace of her sleeves painted an intricate pattern on her. A simple necklace hung from her neck, a small ruby that had belonged to her mother all those years ago.

She looked like royalty, the fabric swaying softly as she walked over to them, tutting.

He had never seen someone so beautiful.

“You need to be gentle with Chojuro, Ao,” she chided, helping loosen Chojuro’s tie so he could breathe properly. “He’s still young,”

“I was fighting wars at his age-”

“We are no longer that era,” she said, eyes piercing as she held contact.

From how close she was, he could see the faint dusting of blush on her cheeks, the way she nervously pursed her crimson stained lips. Whoever had been in charge of her hair had even pulled back her bangs, revealing her beautiful face that had to have been made from the divines. She had even exposed her injured eye, the blind blue a result from an injury she sustained as a genin.

He felt all the air rush out of his lungs, his heart ramming against his ribcage painfully, his face awfully warm.

“You, uh,” for the first time in a while, Ao found himself stuttering. “You look very nice, Lady Mizukage,”

“I’m well aware of how I look,” Mei said, giving Chojuro a fond smile. “We shouldn’t keep the Kage waiting, should we? The sooner we finish this dinner, the faster I can get out of this dress,”

With that, she turned and took the lead.

Dinner went by smoothly until the Hokage ruined Mei’s mood.

Mei watched from her seat, her glass of wine half finished in her hand as her gaze strayed to Ao and Chojuro. While everyone had finished eating and were now mingling about, discussing future policies, she couldn’t pry her eyes off her new advisor.

Ao was just the same as she remembered him from when she was younger. She remembered being twelve and smitten with him, seeing him in passing as he handed in mission after mission. He had been in his late twenties, barely sparing a glance at any genin beneath him, too absorbed in his own duty as an ANBU.

_“If you like him so much why don’t you marry him?” Zabuza had teased her with a roll of his eyes. _

_“If you like your stupid sword so much why don’t you marry it?” she parroted back, watching from where she leaned against the balcony. Looking down, she could see him dealing out orders to his fellow ANBU. She genuinely enjoyed the fact that he disliked wearing the mask while in the village, allowing her to see his handsome face._

_“You guys are acting like you’re five, cut it out,” Kisame had chimed in, and Mei went back to Ao watching, much to the boys’ dismay. _

Mei let out a sigh, taking a sip of the bitter mulberry wine.

“Staring?”

Mei turned her head to see Tsunade, the legendary Sannin as she settled down in her seat next to her, a bottle of sake in hand.

“I thought you were playing with Ay,”

“He’s a sore loser when it comes to arm wrestling,” Tsunade shrugged. “Here,”

She tilted her bottle of sake into Mei’s wine glass.

“I was enjoying my wine, thank you,” Mei grimaced.

“You look like you need some liquid courage,” Tsunade winked. “So, who’s the guy?”

“This is hardly appropriate-”

“Is it your advisor?” Tsunade guessed, and by the deep blush on Mei’s face, she guessed correct. “It is, isn’t it?”

“Hush,” Mei drained the contents of her glass. “It’s unprofessional,”

“Oh, come on,” Tsunade leaned onto her arm. “This job is tough, even more when you’re a woman. If you need a little stress reliever, I don’t think he’d mind,”

Mei covered her face in her hands, feeling her face flush more due to embarrassment.

“Is it that obvious?” Mei asked quietly.

“Very,” Tsunade said. “You were staring at him all throughout dinner. He looked like he was about to burst,”

She accentuated the last word with a pop of her lips, letting out a laugh.

“Men are stupid,” Tsunade continued. “Like that idiot, Jiraiya. He makes me so mad, but he’s great when you need a break and to just go out and have a drink and chat with. He seems like he’s a good man, so keep him close. You’ll really need it,”

“Is this your advice for every new Kage?”

“Oh, no. I told Gaara to run while he could, but he seems like he’s enjoying it,”

Mei cast a glance to the young Kazekage, flanked by his siblings as they talked with Chojuro. She gave a small smile, happy to know Chojuro was with people around his age and not surrounded by just the adults.

Her gaze shifted back to Ao, the way he spoke confidently to Shikaku Nara, the way his suit made him look strikingly handsome. Just a few days ago, he was meeting her at the gate to welcome her as the Mizukage, and if three days of working together made her heart do leaps in her chest, she wasn’t sure if she could do the job for long.

His gaze met hers, and he gave a small smile without missing a beat in his conversation, the Nara head nodding his approval at whatever it was they were discussing.

“Oh, that was cute,” Tsunade said, finishing her bottle of sake. “I’m going to see if Ay wants a rematch. I better be invited to the wedding,”

With that, she left, leaving Mei alone to confront her feelings.

The dinner quieted down, the fellow Kage leaving for their respective hotels around midnight. After a celebratory clap on the back from Ay, Mei was ready to go home and ice her back before going to sleep so she could be ready for her first day as Mizukage.

Chojuro had left an hour earlier, too tired to keep up with Ohnoki and Ay’s bickering. Gaara and Mei had sat back in silence, watching the dispute unravel with little interest. If all Kage get togethers were this way, then she surely would dread them.

However, she wouldn’t dread them if she had Ao to accompany her.

“Let me walk you home, Lady Mizukage,” he offered.

“Are you insinuating I can’t walk home by myself?” she asked, watching the way his face blushed a cute deep pink.

“No, I just want to make sure you get home safely,” he covered. “For my own peace of mind,”

“Fine,” Mei said, slipping her heels off and feeling the cool damp stone of the pavement beneath her feet. “But it is late, and you better not complain tomorrow morning,”

Ao let out a small laugh.

“I’ll be fine, Lady Mizukage,”

They walked the way in mostly silence, Mei’s gaze going to the closed shops of her home village, the way the streets, once deserted for fear of attack, had seemed livelier today.

“Do you think I can change the village?” she asked. “Make people forget about the Bloody Mist?”

“I don’t think people will forget, but we can move to make reparations and go forward into a peaceful time,” Ao said, and Mei gave him a small smile. Spoken as a true advisor, quelling her worries.

Mei saw her apartment come into view, stopping.

“I’ll be fine from here,” she said. “Thank you, Ao,”

“I can walk you to your door, Lady Mizukage,” he insisted, and Mei eyed him warily.

“Go home, Ao. Mizukage’s orders,” she said, a hint of teasing in his voice.

“Oh, yes,” he nervously rubbed the back of his neck, giving her a small wave with his other hand. “Have a good night, Lady Mizukage. Sleep well,”

“Good night, Ao. Thank you for seeing me home. I’ll see you in the morning,”

She watched him turn, heading off into the direction of where he lived. Once he was far away enough, she walked back to her apartment, shutting the door behind her with a heavy sigh.

Mei needed to get over her crush quickly before it began to interfere with her duty as Mizukage.

It didn’t help when he was going to be by her side constantly at work.

At least he was a cute coworker, she reasoned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a kage and her advisor crushing hardcore on one another without the other noticing.  
This was also just an excuse for me to write about how pretty Mei is.  
Thank you so much for reading! :)


	6. In the Matter of Chojuro

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mei has a surprise for Chojuro on his birthday, and it's one that means the world to him.

November First was a day Mei personally would love to make a national holiday in the Hidden Mist almost as much as May Twenty First.

The door to her home office opened quietly, footsteps all too familiar pattering about. He had a spare key to her home, always more than welcome to stay. Her guest bedroom was slowly becoming more like his own bedroom, her right hand sleeping over at her house more than he slept in his own apartment.

“You wanted to see me?” Chojuro asked, shutting the door behind him.

“Happy birthday, Chojuro. I can’t believe you’re twenty two already! You’ve grown into quite the handsome young man,” Mei couldn’t stop the big smile from spreading across her face. “Come, I have a present for you,”

“You do?” Chojuro raised an eyebrow as he moved closer. Mei dug around in her top drawer of her desk, pulling out a neatly wrapped present.

“It’s really two gifts,” she admitted, coming over to hand him the gift. Standing in front of him and having to tilt her head a bit to look him in the eye, she realized how much he had grown since the war.

In three short years, Chojuro had hit his last little growth spurt, finally taller than her. She had seen the self-conscious boy she had taken on as her retainer years ago turn into a handsome, confident young man. The hand not holding his gift came up to cup his cheek fondly, proud of the man who stood before her, a man she had helped raise.

“I hope you like them,” she pressed the gift into his hand, removing the hand on his cheek.

“I love anything you get me,” he said, taking the package and beginning to unwrap the paper.

Mei leaned against her desk with a pleased smile as Chojuro’s eyes lit up upon the sight of what laid in the box, mouth hung open in shock.

“Is this what I think it is, Mei?”

“The one and only,” she smiled wider. “I found it in the archives, and since no one has laid claim to it, it’s yours,”

Chojuro pulled out the original sealing scroll of the Seven Swords of the Mist, a precious treasure of the village. Created by Byakuren during the Warring States era, the original scroll had been stolen from an Uzushio ship in order to store Byakuren’s personal arsenal of weapons. After establishing the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, the strongest wielders the most compatible with the legendary blades found scattered throughout the Land of Water, Byakuren had replaced the contents of the scroll to act as a summoning ground for all seven weapons. Gengetsu had lost it during a drunken night out with the second Tsuchikage. The third Mizukage had recreated the original sealing scroll, the one that stored the swords safely in Kirigakure’s armory.

“This…” Chojuro looked down at it, breathless as he unraveled it. “This belongs in the museum! T-this is a precious artifact of our village!”

“The curator told me he had no need of it, since they have a replica on display. He said it was mine to give or keep,”

“And you’re giving it to _m-me_?”

“Of course, Chojuro. Only the best for you,”

“This is incredible,” he whispered, looking at the intricate design on the border of the fabric.

“Maybe so,” Mei shrugged, watching as he laid it down on the floor. “Try summoning Hiramekarei. It is at home, right?”

Chojuro nodded, biting the pad of his thumb with his sharp teeth. His hands flew quickly as he formed the signs, pressing the blood coated thumb onto the spot where Hiramekarei would spring forth.

Instead of a sword summoning before him on the scroll, another scroll appeared in its place.

“What’s this?” Chojuro cocked his head, eyebrows raised in confusion as he looked up at Mei expectantly, as if she would give him an answer. She always had the best answer for any of his questions, but she simply gave him an excited smile.

“Open it,” she insisted. “I did say there was more than one gift,”

Chojuro took the scroll in shaky fingers, anxiety coursing through his body at the thought of what could be hidden in the scroll. He knew Mei would never put him in any instance where he could be harmed, but the look on her face made him nervous to open it,

Unravelling it slowly, Chojuro scanned the top, noticing the official seal of Kirigakure on it. The bold font at the top had tears prick at his eyes painfully, immediately looking up at Mei. She looked near tears, as well.

“Read it,” she encouraged, and he opened the entire scroll.

_In the matter of Chojuro, last name unknown, clan unknown. _

His personal information was listed in the fine lines of the document, his eyes darting down to the print that drew his eye.

‘Information of Adoptive Parents’, Mei’s beautiful signature listed under ‘Mother’ alongside all her required information.

“Chojuro,” Mei knelt down onto the floor across from him. “I’ve never really told you before, but I view you as the son I’ve never had. I’ve had the joy of watching you grow as Mangetsu’s student and become the last of the Swordsmen. I’ve cherished every moment you’ve been by my side, and I am so proud of how strong of a man you’ve become, how you’ve become a hero to our village and have shown your dedication to bettering the lives of our people. You’ve come so far from that cute little boy I once met, and since that day, I knew that you’d one day grow to become someone I could one day hand my title of Mizukage to,”

She took his hands into hers, giving them a light squeeze before swallowing the growing lump in her throat and continuing.

“I have no more family left, no one to pass on my name. I’ve never been able to have children of my own and being able to guide you throughout your life has given me the chance to experience what motherhood would be like. You don’t have to take my name, but if you would, and only if you wish, I would like to make you my heir and my son,”

Chojuro blinked, feeling a tear stream down his face. He didn’t register he was sobbing until Mei embraced him, her arms around him tight. She always grounded him, calmed him with her kind words and lovely smile that he had sworn to protect. He pressed his face into her shoulder, feeling her rub soothing circles into his back.

“We just need your signature,” she said. “And then we have to go to the courts to get it filed, but if you don’t want to, we can just throw it-”

Chojuro pulled away for a moment, sniffling as he brought his hand to remove his glasses to wipe his eyes. This was the woman he had always looked up to and admired, who cared for him the way a mother would. She was the one who always knew what to do in the event he was ill or needed advice or just a simple confidence boost. Mei was the only stable thing he had in his life, and he never wanted to admit it for fear of seeming weak, but he clung to her like a lifeline. Who was he to deny her request to be his mother when he already saw her as one?

“Of course,” he nodded. “I’d be honored to have you be my mother,”

Mei held him close, unable to contain her happiness as she held her son. He held her tightly, too overwhelmed to notice he was hugging too hard.

He had grown up without any parents, feeling a void in his chest when he dwelled upon it too long. To make up for the absence, he had trained his hardest to become a strong shinobi. The first one to acknowledge his effort was now the one he could call his family. Mei had been there for him, cheering him on from the sidelines and speaking on his behalf, praising his accomplishments and correcting him for his mistakes. He had been honored to be her right hand, trying to repay her for her kindness by vowing to protect her and her dreams. He had to, now that it was just the two of them.

“I love you dearly,” she said, blinking away the tears that were threatening to spill over.

Mei pressed a kiss to his hairline, listening to the quiet rain pattering against the window panes as Chojuro cried out his joy.

He may not be her son forged by her blood, but he was her son by the strong bond they shared and no one could take that away from them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mist family?  
Mist family.  
Chojuro is Mei's son and she totally brags about him to the other Kage (or pretty much anyone who will listen. That's her baby).  
Thank you so much for reading!!!! :)


	7. There's Still a Chance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ao heads home, Mei visits the Memorial Stone.

It had been three years, two months, and twelve days since Ao had been home.

Not that he was counting or anything.

Today, despite the nervous energy coursing through his veins, was a new day.

“I’m going to miss my favorite patient,” Katasuke said sadly, watching Ao sign his stack of dischargement papers. “Thank you for letting me test out my new tech on you,”

“Thank you for dealing with me,” Ao said honestly, glancing up at the doctor.

“You have simultaneously been the best and worst patient I’ve ever had,” Katasuke let out a laugh. “I somewhat miss the heart attacks you would give me,”

“I’m flattered,”’

Ao looked down at the last of the dotted lines he had to sign, the pen hovering over it.

“Are you ready to go home?” Katasuke asked, head tilted as he waited for Ao’s answer.

Ao bit the inside of his cheek, signing the first part of his signature.

“I’m sure your Mizukage misses you,” he continued. “From what I’ve heard, Kiri’s changed quite a bit for the better. I’m sure you’ll find some pleasant surprises when you arrive,”

Ao hummed in agreement, paperwork completed.

“Are you ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be,”

“Then let’s get you home,”

It had been ages since Ao had stood on the docks at the border of the Land of Fire, the vast sea that held his home on the other side just a few hours worth of travel away.

He gripped the strap of his bag, feeling Katasuke’s comforting hand come up to give his shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

“I expect to hear from you often,” he said. “And I’ll be more than happy to repair any damages to your prosthetics, should that occur,”

Ao gave him a small smile.

“I need to get going,” he said. “Thank you, Dr. Tono,”

“We’re friends. You can just call me Katasuke,” Katasuke beamed at him. “It’s been an honor, Lord Ao,”

“Same to you,”

Ao went to take a step forward before the doctor gave him a big hug, squeezing him tightly.

“I’ll miss you,” Katasuke said. “I can’t wait to hear about your return,”

Ao gave him an awkward pat on the back, taken a bit aback at the sudden gesture of affection. His team of hunter nin never embraced, never showed any form of affection or care to one another. Growing up in the Bloody Mist, showing affection and appreciation for your teammates and fellow shinobi was usually frowned up.

He felt happy to know that Katasuke was genuinely sad that he was leaving to the point where he felt the need to embrace him, but it was still a new feeling. Damn Konoha nin and their outward expressions of their feelings, he thought.

Once they broke apart, Ao boarded the ship, unsure of what was going to happen upon his return.

“It’s a beautiful day today,” Mei mused, looking out the window of her office.

“Should we go out and do a patrol of the village?” Chojuro asked.

“I don’t see why not,” Mei turned, heading to her chair. “It’s chilly out, so please make sure you’re warm,”

“I’m always warm with this on,” Chojuro tugged at the collar of his turtleneck, smiling. The fall chill was starting to get colder as the season drew on, but the sun had decided to break through this mist and grant an oddly warmer day compared to the bitter cold.

Mei slipped on the haori she had kept since the end of the war, letting out a quiet sigh of relief once her shoulders were covered, already feeling warmer.

Chojuro raised an eyebrow, noticing that the haori she wore was oddly similar to the ones Ao used to wear, about the same size as his, too, but he kept quiet, figuring it wouldn’t do well to bring up their dead advisor.

Chojuro himself knew he got sad whenever he dwelled on it, and it had to be the same for Mei. He had seen how upset she had been upon making the Memorial Stone, stone shining brand new as it overlooked the bay.

After the grand ceremony to reveal it, he had seen her hand linger against the smooth surface, the names of her dead teammates from her youth beneath the pads of her fingers. Ao’s name was on there, beside the name of his fallen student who he had mentioned briefly in passing, as he would have wanted it. It was a cruel reminder that the war had taken him from them. Her face was fallen, eyes looking vacant as she stared at the engraved names. She never shed a tear before him whenever they mentioned Ao, but he could see that something inside hurt her. Chojuro never asked her what her feelings for him were, not wanting to risk treading into unsafe waters. He had tried his hardest to fill his place by her side, trying his hardest to be the man Ao would have wanted him to be. After all, he had given Chojuro had the best example. Though Mei was his mother now, the paperwork processed the same day he had signed it, he still felt nervous asking about her feelings. While she was more than happy to discuss her early career as a kunoichi, telling him tales of her companions, there was always a hint of sadness in her eyes once she noticed that she was talking about now dead men. He had never wanted to bring it up for fear of making her upset, something he was dead set on preventing.

He had sworn to protect her kind smile with his life, and he meant it.

“Let’s get going, okay, Chojuro?” she asked, leading the way. “We can stop for lunch on our way back,”

“Sounds great,” he agreed, following her out of the office, the doors locking shut behind them.

For the first time in a long time, Ao was terrified.

Donning a cloak over his haori, he easily was overlooked as he took the boat from the Land of Fire over to the Land of Water. The ride had been fine until they drew closer to the village. When the horizon began to show more and more of his beloved village, the village he was raised in and protected, fear began to burrow its way into his stomach.

Once the boat docked, he nervously took his first step back home.

The village had changed in the three years he was gone. He had forgotten how cold it got in the fall, the air nipping at his face as he walked onto the same docks he used to make his genin team wait at.

Coming up from the docks and onto the main strip leading into the heart of the village, Ao took in all the changes. There were multiple newer buildings, the pale blue brick not as worn as others. There were more children running about, a result of times of peace and prosperity. It looked as if there was more tourism, a shock to him. When he was younger, people from the other nations were terrified of going to Kiri for risk of being swept up in the Bloody Mist. Shinobi strolled about the streets as they patrolled casually, and there were less of them. The economy had been struggling during Yagura’s reign and now it looked as if it prospered. People were mingling with one another, the elimination of the caste system allowing for more inclusion in the village, more diversity. It had been Mei’s first act as village leader.

He took in a deep breath, the smell of home a bit different, but familiar all the same.

He gave a weak smile.

She really did it. She had truly changed the village for the better, and she had done most of it without him.

Saying he was proud would be an understatement. Mei had accomplished something that just ten years ago during Yagura would seem inconceivable. She did it in the four years she had been Mizukage, and done it with brilliance, as she would have put it.

He stopped by the hotel he was going to be staying in, his old apartment definitely out of the question since it was no longer his. Dropping off his things, he let himself rest before heading back out by the docks.

Ao scanned the main road, noticing the liveliness to it. The Mizukage’s tower was off in the distance, the same as it always had been. The village bustled with life, and his gaze turned over to a new addition sitting before the bay, the large stone glinting in the sun.

He might as well act as a tourist before going off to possibly see his Mizukage. He was nervous at the prospect of seeing her. It would give him more time to think of what he would say to her.

His thoughts were a storm of possible conversations he would have with her. Would she scream at him, blame him for hiding all these years as he recovered? Would she just disregard him, toss him to the side as if he were a broken tool? She was the partner of the Demon of the Mist and growing up they had all had that kind of ideology.

Maybe she would just melt him with her vapor style on the spot. Would she even look at him the same, now that he had lost the Byakugan that had been so precious to Kiri, had lost his arm and part of his leg?

He paused in his walking, realizing the date. Chojuro’s birthday had just been just shy of a week prior. He was twenty two now, not the same sixteen year old brat he had first met. From the glimpses he had sensed during the war, seeing Chojuro step into a leadership role, Ao knew he had no doubt grown into a man worthy of being a legendary Swordsman. When they had sparred as Ao prepared him to become Mei’s bodyguard, he knew Chojuro had plenty of potential, reminiscent of his own days as a sensei.

Chojuro had helped fill the void that had burrowed its way in his chest at the loss of his student, and though he never admitted it out loud to him, Ao was immensely proud of the man Chojuro had become the last time he had seen him. He was probably substantially better now that three years had passed.

He shook his head, his feet leading him forward.

He would think of the right thing to say, hopefully, if he encountered them. He had missed Mei so immensely that his heart ached from her absence, the pain not wanting to dwindle all throughout his rehabilitation. He would love to tell her his feelings, let her know how he was more than willing to worship the ground she walked on, but he was also scared that she would reject his feelings.

They weren’t teenagers anymore but the prospect of love being rejected would probably greatly dishearten him.

A thought popped into his mind that Mei might have potentially married by now, and that left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Mei loved patrolling through the village. It gave her the opportunity to assist her people, to get to actually talk and hear their problems or suggestions. Her early career had been rough, the remnants of the Bloody Mist trying to cling as hard as possible, but as time went on and her legislation worked to undo the damage, people began to change.

They had decided to stop at the academy, watching the young children go through light spars together. It put a smile on her face, a small reminder of being a young girl in the academy herself where she had met Kisame for the first time.

She was the smallest in the class, and he had been the tallest. Their sensei had probably paired them as a joke, but he hadn’t been laughing when Mei, six at the time, had thrown Kisame over her shoulder and pinned him by his shoulder, the match over in mere seconds. That had just been a taijutsu match, since if it had been a match involving swords, Kisame, who had been wielding a sword since he could walk, would have had her beat.

It was the start of a beautiful friendship, the monster and the girl from a bloodline who should have died in the purges becoming as thick as thieves. Zabuza completed their group a few years later.

“Lady Mizukage, it’s always a pleasure to see you visit,” the jonin sensei presiding over the class said, giving her a smile.

The academy had grown so much since she attended, the building having expanded and now catered to teaching academics outside of the world of shinobi to every child in the village.

“The pleasure is mine,” she said, turning to the students. “We must get going, but I can’t wait to see your growth the next time I visit,”

With a chorus of goodbyes from the children, her and Chojuro were on their way out.

“Where should we eat?” Chojuro asked. “There’s so many new options now, it seems like a new restaurant pops up every week,”

“Maybe we should go to the dumpling place that one Kumo veteran opened up,” she mused. “Whatever draws our eye, I suppose,”

Mei gave a shrug, wrapping her haori around her tightly as a gust of wind sent chills down her spine.

“Can we visit the memorial stone before we go?” she asked.

“Of course,” Chojuro said, turning to walk down the road that lead to the bay. “Any particular reason?”

“I’m feeling sentimental, I suppose,” Mei shrugged. The memorial stone was a way she could pay her respects for her fallen friends, her family, the one man she loved. Dwelling at tombstones greatly depressed her, but the gorgeous monument that the sculptor had crafted was easier on the eyes.

Taking the path to the monument, Mei noticed the area was mainly vacant. The park a short ways away was busier, but the Memorial Stone had a sole visitor. From what she could see, it had to be a man, though it was difficult from the cloak he wore.

Mei walked closer, Chojuro behind her. Hopefully he would leave soon so she could be alone with her adopted son as they paid their respects.

Growing closer, she noticed the man had his hair up in an all too familiar style, blue hair streaked with faint traces of grey. The pang of similarity made her frown, her feet moving before she registered that she was walking up to the man.

Just before she approached the man, he turned around, bumping into her.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he apologized, that voice a sound she hadn’t heard in years.

Mei felt her eyes sting as they watered, her heart pounding painfully hard, the blood rushing the only thing she could hear as she looked up at the man who had bumped into her.

The world seemed to stop for a moment, time non-existent as their gazes locked together. Chojuro let out a gasp behind her, but Mei was too stunned to even think about it.

“Ao?” her voice was a hushed whisper, his breath froze in his chest. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They finally reunited!!! I've been dying to write their reunion since I started this fic!  
Thank you so much for reading! I can't wait to post the next chapter!!! :)


	8. Reunion, Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reunited (and it feels so good)  
(chapter title pulled from Reunion by the xx! I've had a playlist of songs that have been putting me in the mindset of writing this fic and I wrote their reunion in this chapter while this song played!)

“Well, inventory is done and we’re setting off,” Ao reported, glancing behind him as all of Kiri’s shinobi forces scattered about the village in preparation for departure.

“Captain!” a fellow sensor shouted. “We’ve been summoned!”

Ao turned back to Mei and Chojuro, both preparing to depart to join the daimyo guard.

“Chojuro,” he said. “Make sure you protect Lady Mizukage with your life. Protect the daimyo well. If I hear you slacked off on your duty, there will be hell to pay when we get back. Understood?”

“Y-yes, sir,” Chojuro stood ramrod straight. “I’ll try my best, I hope,”

Ao let out a sigh, ready to launch into another rant about how the younger generation lacked a backbone when Mei stepped forward.

“Make our village proud,” she said. “I know you will,”

“Thank you, Lady Mizukage,” Ao adjusted the final strap to his jonin vest, a quick mental go-over of his supplies. “I’ll be watching from the sensor division,”

“I’m very proud that you’ve become captain,” she said, giving him a smile. “We’re to meet back up on the beaches once this is all done, correct?”

“Yes, my lady,”

“We’ll see you there,” Mei reached a hand up to cup the side of his face, tilting his face towards her.

She pressed a quick kiss to his cheek right beneath his eyepatch. Her lips were soft against his skin, as if they were meant to kiss him. Had Ao’s brain decided to work at that moment, he would have grumbled about her leaving a mark with her lipstick. Unfortunately, all rational thought had escaped his mind the moment she kissed him.

He was so confused as to why she had kissed him. She never had done so before, and he wasn’t truly complaining.

As soon as it happened, she withdrew, leaving Ao with his face burning hotter than a fire style jutsu.

He stood there dumbstruck, unsure of how to interpret the peck on the cheek until Mei gave one to Chojuro.

“Lady Fifth, you spoil him too much!” he barked, watching Chojuro’s face turn a similar shade of red. “He’s-”

“Captain Ao, we need to leave!” his subordinate interrupted him, drawing him from his rant.

“Goodbye, Ao,” Mei gave him a sweet smile. “We’ll meet after we stop this madness,”

With a final goodbye, he left, unaware that it would be the last time he would see them for years.

Mei was just as he had pictured her these past three years apart. She looked the same as she had when he had left her to go to the Intel Division, though her eyes told a different story. He noticed the slight dark circles beneath her striking emerald eyes, the way being the Mizukage had begun to wear on her, the very faint trace of age showing on her beautiful face. She was wearing his haori, drawn over her tightly to keep warm in the autumn chill. His heart skipped a beat when he locked his eye with hers, watching her eyes tear up.

He hadn’t meant to bump into her, but he had been too lost in thought of what he could possibly say to her. Now that she was there in front of him, he was speechless.

Mei fought back the urge to cry, taking in the sight before her. Ao looked so different from the last time she had seen him before they parted. The side of his face where the Byakugan had been was now covered with a craniofacial prosthetic, and when her gaze wandered, she noticed the part of his hand not covered by his cloak was also a cybernetic prosthetic as well as his left foot. The heavy scarring drew her eye, but once she looked back up at the man who had been her right hand, she noticed the genuinely concerned look on his face.

“Ao?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. “Is it really you?”

She blinked, hoping the illusion would fade, but he still stood before her when she opened her eyes.

He didn’t say anything, but it was definitely him. There was no denying that face, that hair.

Chojuro barely could register what was happening until he noticed Mei, as fast as she was, grab Ao by the lapels of his cloak and shake him.

“Where were you?” she asked, anger quickly replacing the shock, relief, happiness, whatever concoction of emotion that was flooding her system. “We thought you were dead!”

“Lady Mizukage, I-”

“Chojuro!” Mei stopped her ministrations, shooting a look over her shoulder. “Hand me Hiramekarei,”

“Lady Mei, I don’t think-”

“Hand me Hiramekarei, Chojuro!” she demanded, letting go of Ao for a second to hold out her hand.

She looked so hurt, so betrayed, but Chojuro knew that she would just hit him with the blunt side of the twin sword, that she would never truly harm Ao.

His chest ached, and while he was happy, he felt the same hurt she did as he reluctantly handed her the blade.

“Where were you?” Mei hissed, pointing an accusing finger at Ao. “You were alive all this time and didn’t inform us?”

“I’ll explain if you calm down-” Ao said, and the last thing he saw was the blunt side of Hiramekarei wielded by hands much smaller than Chojuro’s.

Ao came to in the hospital, the clear strong smell of antiseptic filling his senses. Mei was standing over him, arms folded across her chest with a deep frown.

“You didn’t need to hit him,” Chojuro said from the other side of his bed, a hint of disappointment in his voice.

“He could have come home!” Mei snapped, and Ao had never heard her raise her voice to Chojuro like that before. “Why didn’t he?”

“He was going to tell you!” Chojuro responded and had Ao not had a splitting headache and an ache in his cheek he would have smiled that the kid had finally stood firm on something.

Mei’s gaze darted down at Ao, her frown wavering.

“Good, you’re up,” she said, acid seeping into her words as he sat up. “I demand you tell me where you were and why you didn’t inform me that you were in fact alive,”

“I-”

“We searched everywhere on the battlefield for you!” Mei shouted, the doctor that happened to walk by flinching at the Mizukage’s sudden outburst. “We had a funeral for you!”

Her voice broke at the last word, a harsh sob choking off her anger. He hated the look on her face, the way her lip trembled slightly, the big tears that started rolling down her cheeks. Knowing that he was causing her this much pain was enough to make his heart ache. Chojuro came around to put a hand on her shoulder, looking two seconds from breaking into tears as well.

Mei inhaled deeply, steeling herself.

“Explain yourself quickly,” she demanded. “I’m incredibly mad at you,”

Ao explained everything to her, watching her nod at each significant detail. He explained how Katasuke had taken him, healed him, oversaw his rehabilitation. He left out some details, since she would chide him for being a stubborn patient if he told her about how difficult he had been to the doctor.

Once he finished, Mei’s frown had relaxed, and she looked like she had come to understand his absence more.

“Well, since you’re fine enough to tell me all of this,” she said, snatching his left hand in hers. “Then we’re going,”

“Going where?” he asked, a little scared of the glint in her eye.

Being all but dragged to the Mizukage’s office by his Mizukage, Chojuro in tow was not how he had expected his return to go.

“Lord Ao?” Genji clung to his cane with his good hand, a hand coming to his chest. “You’re alive!”

“I am,” Ao replied, praying that this news didn’t give the elder a heart attack. Inadvertently killing the elder upon his arrival would not be a good start.

“We have to alert the council,” Mei said, her grip on his hand firm. “I’m reinstating him as my advisor, immediately, if possible,”

“Yes, my lady,” the ANBU in charge of guarding her office shunshin-ed away with the elder.

“Chojuro,” Mei looked at him. “Please, send a letter to the daimyo,”

“Of course,”

Ao scoffed at Chojuro, noticing the lack of honorific.

“You should say, ‘of course, Lady Fifth,’ Chojuro,” he said. “Show respect,”

“Ah, I missed that,” Chojuro said quietly, smiling as he turned to go write that letter.

As the doors clicked shut behind Chojuro, they were alone in the office.

Mei let go of Ao’s hand, the former hunter nin already missing her warmth as she walked over to her desk.

“There’s a lot to fill you in on,” she said, nodding her head to Ao’s old chair. “Sit,”

Ao walked over, watching as Mei walked over to meet him.

“Lady Mizukage?” he asked, watching as Mei slipped her arms around him, pulling him close.

“Just…” she mumbled against his chest. “Let me hold you for a second, to prove you’re real,”

“I’m not a genjutsu. I’m real,” he assured her, feeling Mei’s grip around him tighten.

Her embrace was much different that Katasuke’s. The doctor was eccentric and had been buzzing with energy when he had hugged Ao goodbye.

Mei held him as if he would slip from her grasp and he knew why. The last people she had been close with had left her, one by one, either escaping from her life or dying.

He made a move to pull away, Mei clinging to him tighter.

“Wait, don’t pull away,” she said. “I want to hold you for a bit longer,”

She had been raised to not grow attached to anyone, the Bloody Mist was not kind to those with bonds, making the mistake of growing close to people who ended up leaving her one way or another. Now, years later after she had fought so hard to end that era, she found herself wanting to be selfish and hold him in her arms forever. Her heart pounded from being so close to him, and from where her head was pressed against his chest, she could hear his heart beating faster than a Flying Raijin.

However, there was something that made the embrace incomplete.

“Hold me, damnit,” she demanded.

Ao gingerly wrapped his arms around her, watching his Mizukage relax under his touch. He held her unsurely, a hand coming to rest on the top of her head. Her hair was just as soft as he had imagined, just everything about her had been exactly as he had imagined and better. She was so warm in his embrace, the sight of her wearing his haori and in his arms stirring something within him that made him want to make her his forever.

“I missed you dearly,” she admitted, voice so soft he barely heard it.

“Lady Mizukage, do you remember what I told you at your inauguration?”

Of course she did, how could she forget the way his words had soothed her worries.

“Yes,”

“You’ve done everything you sought out to do and more,” Ao said, the hand he had on her head gently mussing up the hair there. “Excellent work,”

The smile she gave him was enough to melt his heart, and he couldn’t help but return it with a genuine smile of his own.

After all, he could never really deny his Mizukage anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of my favorite things in the manga which I'm so mad they didn't include in the anime is that Mei smacks Ao with the blunt side of Hiramekarei when he's stuck in that mind transfer, but the anime changed it to just her smacking him, so you bet I'm making her use Hiramekarei.  
Thank you so much for reading! )


	9. Visitations and Hesitations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ao adjusts to coming back home while Mei decides it's time for a quick visit to a special doctor.

Ao had been taken aback once Mei explained to him everything he missed during his rehabilitation, mostly shocked as when she brushed it off so casually, explaining over tea that Chojuro was already like the son she never had, so why not officially make him her son? It staved off the council of elders, their incessant demands of her to step down as Mizukage and marry a constant source of tension.

“I don’t see why I have to step down if I want to marry, anyway,” Mei complained. “Just because the Nidaime ruined official weddings doesn’t mean I should have to suffer,”

Gengetsu had an infamous reign due to the elaborate parties he hosted and the fact that he married seven people within one month, marrying and then divorcing in order to host immaculate wedding ceremonies. The whole Land of Water had been nothing but a party for the full month due to his demands to celebrate his engagements, and he nearly bankrupted the state by doing so. The Sandaime had strictly enforced a law stating that the Mizukage would not be allowed to marry while in office. If they were married beforehand, that was fine, but they would have to resign if they desired to marry.

Ao did agree that it was a foolish law, but it made him happy to know that Mei had not married in his absence. As if he had a chance of being hers, he thought.

“Ao, are you listening to me?” Mei’s voice pulled him from his thoughts, fingers tapping against her cup. “I asked you if you were hungry,”

“I could eat,”

“Good,” she smiled. “Let’s go,”

Despite being the figurehead of the village, it was surprisingly quiet when Mei all but dragged him to his favorite restaurant, one he knew she personally held no preference for. The thought that she remembered after all these years made him smile as she greeted the staff kindly, the two taking a seat in a quiet corner.

A companionable silence filled the air between them as they ordered, Mei taking the chance to really look at Ao.

Under the dim lighting of the restaurant, not much of his face had changed despite his obvious wounds that had healed over, leaving behind thin slivers of pale scar tissue. She had to resist the urge to point out the thin greys of his hair, not wanting to point out that it made him look older. He was still every bit handsome to her as he was all those years ago, when she was just a teenager with a silly crush, the thought of how much he had grown over the course of the decades and her love growing with it giving her a small smile.

“Lady Mizukage? Are you alright?” he asked, observing the calm look in her eyes.

She looked content, letting out a small hum.

“Where is this Dr. Tono again?” she asked, taking a sip of her sake.

“Out in Konoha. Why?”

“I have to thank him for bringing me back my dear advisor,”

“Oh,”

Silence filled the air once more as their food arrived, the two eating quietly.

“Maybe we should plan a visit,” Mei mused. “I hear Konoha’s warm during the winter,”

“It is,” Ao agreed, watching her eye a piece of his breaded pork cutlet.

He knew that look. He was her advisor for years, and she had a knack for ordering food and then realizing his looked tastier, often sneaking pieces when he was busy scolding Chojuro.

Wordlessly, he nudged his bowl closer for her to take a piece for herself, watching her face light up as she took a bite.

“I always forget that you order the best food,” she said, content. “Maybe I should let you order our meals next time,”

Ao smiled back at her, glad to know they had fallen back into their old routine as if he had never been gone in the first place.

Fall faded into winter quickly, the cold setting in as snow began to blanket the village. Mei wrapped her haori around her close, turning from the window of her office.

“Chojuro,” she said. “Have you heard from him yet?”

“Not since the summer, no,” Chojuro said, skimming the last correspondence. “But he should-”

There was a crash somewhere down the hall, Mei already regretting letting him back into the village.

“I’m back!” Suigetsu chimed, poking his head into her office. “How’s it going, Mei?”

“She’s your Mizukage and you’ll address her as such,” Ao said, Suigetsu rolling his eyes at him.

“She used to babysit me. I think ‘Meany Mei’ is far from being just my Mizukage,” Suigetsu said, cracking a grin once he saw Mei cover her mouth to stifle the laugh from his childish nickname he had given her. “I got the report on that failed bandit uprising in Wave,”

He tossed her a scroll, Mei deftly catching it.

“Good work,” she noted. “Are you staying?”

“I might,” Suigetsu shrugged. “Might go fuck around and visit Sasuke in Konoha. You know I hate the cold,”

“If you’re home for the time being, please assist Chojuro on several missions,” Mei looked down at the mission ledger. “I believe Mrs. Oniyuzu’s cat went missing. Go do that,”

“Aw, man? I come back and don’t even get a cool assassination S-rank?” Suigetsu whined. “You made the village so boring!”

Mei gave him the same stare she would give him when he was three and not listening to her, instantly shutting him up.

“Fine!” he huffed. “I’ll only do it because you’re practically family, but just this once.”

“Sucking up won’t make me relinquish the Executioner’s Blade to you any quicker,” Mei said. “I’m still upset about your little excursion at the summit,”

“But that was Sasuke’s idea, not mine,” he whined, stomping his foot. “Fine! I’m going, you witch,”

Ao watched the corner of her eye twitch, preparing to duck out of the way should she decide to use her lava style. Instead, he watched her take a deep breath, inwardly counting before she settled.

“Brat,” she whispered under her breath. “Chojuro, be a dear and go make sure he doesn’t get into any more trouble than he usually does,”

“I’ll try,” Chojuro said, picking up Hiramekarei. “I can give no promises,”

“Just tell her you’ll do your best,” Ao chided. “Don’t-”

He quieted upon the stare Mei gave him.

“You never watched after him,” she said, suddenly remembering how Mangetsu had somehow wrangled her and the boys into watching Suigetsu on multiple occasions while he did missions away from the village. “Suigetsu is a terror,”

Once Chojuro left, Mei gave a small smile to Ao.

“I actually have something planned for the both of us,” she said, pulling two tickets from her pocket. “Pack a day bag, and I’ll meet you at the docks,”

Life in Konoha kept on moving after Katasuke had to say goodbye to his favorite patient, but there were always new experiments to be conducted, new creations to be thought of and tinkered with.

He shivered as he made his way out of the lab, the cool winter air forcing him to draw his coat closer. Konoha was warmer than most of the nations except for Suna and the drop in temperature was enough to call for a hot drink.

He had just completed working on a new ninja tool, one that would be capable of assisting the medical corp. the way how the wristlet was going to function was that with the tap of a button a fully equipped med kit would appear, but he couldn’t get the seal right. He had also been working for twenty hours straight and needed a break before his colleagues locked him out of the lab and forced him to get some sleep.

The regular attendant at the counter of the café gave him a friendly smile as she prepped his usual order, adding extra cream the way he liked it. There was some commotion out on the street, not enough that warranted him to give his attention to as he grabbed the cup and began to exit the shop.

“I hear the Mizukage’s coming to visit!” a genin said excitedly as she passed with her teammates. “She’s one of my heroes!”

“She’s coming to discuss some matters with the Hokage,” the jonin leader said. “But we have mission,”

“I don’t wanna catch cats again,” one of the kids whined, and Katasuke took a sip of his coffee.

“The Mizukage,” he said to himself. He wondered if Ao had managed to find her, or if he even went back to his village. There was a sudden pang in his chest when he thought of his friend, hoping that Ao had done what was best for him.

He remembered how difficult rehabilitation had been for the both of them. Katasuke was only supposed to supervise his occupational therapy, but he ended up becoming his main doctor when Ao refused to deal with anyone else. The other staff members simply didn’t know how to talk to the sensor, more used to dealing with civilians and not shinobi who had been through two wars and an uprising. Countless heart attacks and careful prying had finally gotten him out of his defensive shell and to the point where Katasuke could actually work on helping him and it had been one of his most impressive feats in his career.

Wherever Ao was, Katasuke hoped he was happy.

“Dr. Tono!”

Katasuke whipped his head off to the direction of that voice, recognition taking over his tiredness.

“Ao!” Katasuke dropped his coffee at the sight of his patient, unable to help the smile that came to his face as he went running to him.

Katasuke laughed as he gave him a crushing hug, hoisting him up off the ground for a bit in his excitement. Ao let out a small laugh, a hand trying to pat the doctor to let him know to put him down.

“I missed you!” Katasuke said, setting him back down. “How’s the prosthetics? Are they working well? Do you need me to fix anything? I’ve been thinking of an improvement for your hand, and-”

“You must be Dr. Katasuke Tono,”

Katasuke turned his head at the smooth voice, noticing Ao’s companion.

“Lady Mizukage! It’s an honor to finally meet you,” Katasuke extended a hand, noticing her firm handshake. “Ao talked about you nonstop during our-”

Ao cleared his throat, shooting a look at Katasuke to stop talking.

“Did he now?” Mei said, looking over at Ao and reaching out to give his hand a reassuring squeeze.

“What brings you out here?” Katasuke asked.

“I have something to discuss with Lord Hokage, but also with you,” Mei said. “I wanted to extend my sincerest gratitude to you for saving Ao and allowing him to come back home,”

“I was simply doing my job, ma’am,”

“But you went above and beyond what was necessary,” Mei said. “I have something for you,”

Katasuke sputtered once Mei placed a scroll into his hands, watching as he skimmed through the contents.

“I’ve realized that there is a growing need in the village for scientific studies as well as medical,” Mei said, watching Katasuke’s eyes widen behind his glasses, the sight nearly comical. “And, if you wish, we would like to offer you to come to the Mist and become the director,”

Katasuke gave her a sad smile, rolling the scroll up.

“I’m sorry, Lady Mizukage, but I’m needed here,” he said, handing it back to her. “Thank you for the offer,”

Mei handed the scroll back to him.

“Send your best, then,” she said. “The Mist is more than willing to work with the Leaf for this,”

“If you insist,” he said.

“We have to get going for our meeting with the Hokage,” Ao said.

“We’re staying for the day before heading back,” Mei said.

“I’ll see you once you’re done,” Katasuke said. “Dinner, my treat,”

“It’ll be my treat,” Mei insisted. “As a token of my gratitude,”

Katasuke smiled at the Mizukage, then noticed the soft look in Ao’s eye as he looked at her. Katasuke recognized that look, the look one gave someone they held so much love and devotion for.

He felt relaxed, especially after dinner together, knowing that Ao was in her capable hands.

“I’m exhausted,” Mei admitted, her shoulders feeling heavy as they walked to their inn. “Remember, we need to be up early tomorrow in order to get home before they noticed we left,”

Ao nodded, moving to hold the door open for her.

“How you manage to sneak out of the village without the council noticing, I’ll never know,” Ao said, following after her.

“It’s called charm,” she teased. “And plenty of practice,”

The receptionist at the hotel smiled brightly at the two of them as they approached.

“Hi! What can I help you two with?”

“The Hokage reserved a room for me,” Mei said. “Under ‘Terumi,’ or he could have just put ‘Mizukage,’ knowing Kakashi,”

The receptionist scanned the ledger, nodding.

“Room for one, under ‘Mizukage’,” she said.

“Room for one?” Ao said.

“I told Kakashi that I would be bringing you,” Mei sighed. “Can we just get a room for two, then?”

“No can do,” the receptionist said. “We’re booked for the festival,”

Ao let out a sigh, and Mei shrugged.

“We’ll just share, it’s fine,” she said, taking the keycard from the receptionist.

“Enjoy your stay!” she said, Mei already taking off towards the elevator.

“Lady Mizukage, wait!”

The elevator ride was silent as Ao stared at the numbers ticking up until it reached the seventh floor, following Mei as she headed to their room.

Silently, she unlocked the room, flicking on the light.

“I hope Chojuro is doing well in my place,” she mused, dropping her bag unceremoniously onto the bed. “He’s still getting used to taking my place in my absence if I go without him,”

“You baby him too much,” Ao said. “He’s an adult. He can manage,”

“Chojuro is still learning!” Mei said. “He’ll take my place as Mizukage someday, and I just want to make sure he’s prepared,”

“As if you were?”

“I had you,” Mei gave him a sad smile. “If I didn’t have you…I don’t know how I would have been able to do this for so long,”

Mei let her words sink in, grabbing her things and heading to the bathroom.

“I’ll be changing,” she said. “We should get ready to go to bed,”

“Right,”

Mei felt much better after putting on her sleepwear, her hands working on tying her hair up into a ponytail as she exited the bathroom. The main lights were off, just the light of the bedside table lamp basking the room in a warm yellow glow.

“Ao, what on earth are you doing?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Getting ready for bed?” he said, grabbing one of the pillows off the bed.

“Are you planning on sleeping on the floor?”

“There’s only one bed,”

Mei let out a sigh.

“Get on the bed,” she said, motioning to it. “I’m not going to force you to sleep on the floor,”

“I’ve slept on worse,”

“We all have,” Mei shuddered, a flashback to a mission in her chunin days of sleeping on a crag with the boys, the way their backs had ached so bad they all had to go see medics to get them reset.

Ao watched as she got into bed, slipping under the covers on the left. She wanted him to sleep by her side, and he felt his heart run rampant in his chest at the thought of it.

“Are you just going to stare or are you going to get in bed?” Mei asked, letting out a yawn. “It’s late,”

“Yes, Lady-”

“I have a name, Ao,” Mei said, watching as he got into bed beside her. “You’ve known me for years. You can call me ‘Mei’, I won’t be offended,”

“Yes, Mei,” he said, her name foreign on his lips as he said it.

He laid on his side, trying to create as much space between them as possible. Mei tugged at the blankets, bundling herself up as she turned her back to him.

“Goodnight, Ao,” she said, clicking off the table lamp.

“Goodnight, Mei,”

Silence enveloped the room, Ao thankful that the room was warm since Mei decided to take most of the covers. He tried focusing on the sound of her breathing, hoping it would quell the pounding in his chest, but to no avail.

Mei shifted to her other side, one hand haphazardly throwing the blanket onto him.

“Move closer,” she said. “I don’t bite,”

He obliged, moving into the space he had created between them. Mei reached out, a hand on his shoulder as she guided him closer.

“I’m cold,” she lied, wrapping an arm around his side.

He felt all the air rush out of his lungs when she nuzzled her face against his chest, her face scrunched up once she felt the hardness of his chest plate against her cheek.

Mei’s feet were cold as she pressed the sole of her foot against Ao’s calf, her hand gripping at the back of his yukata. He rested his chin atop her head, finally able to breathe again once he noticed she smelled sweet, something floral that had reminded him of home, had reminded him of her when he was away.

“Goodnight,” she repeated.

“Goodnight,” he responded, closing his eyes and feeling at peace.

It was the first night since he woke up, alive from the battlefield, that he slept soundly and he would kill to fall asleep with her in his arms every night. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me, thinking about this chapter: what if there was just one bed?  
Me, writing this: oh my god, there was just one bed. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading this!!! This is probably getting closer to the end? I don't plan my fics out ever haha but I will probably be wrapping this up within the next few chapters. Thank you all for sticking this out and reading it! It means a lot to me :)


	10. Calm Like Waves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ao's not the only one who deals with trauma post-war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for nightmares and dead people, just a heads up for this chapter.

Ao woke up, the first thing he noticed upon opening his eye was Mei’s face.

Somehow, during the night, they had shifted so Mei had her arms wrapped around his shoulders, her forehead pressed against his as she snored softly. Her grip was tight for someone asleep, her face relaxed. Her lips were so close to his, lingering just over his.

As nice as it had been to fall asleep holding her, he felt scared to be that intimate and close with her, already feeling anxiety spread like ice.

There was no way she could love someone like him, want to fall asleep next to someone like him. She deserved someone her age, someone younger, more handsome-

Mei shifted, moving her face just the right space between them where her lips brushed up against his. She was warm and soft in his grasp, her lips plush against his. She pulled him closer, his face now pressed against the junction of her neck, her pulse thrumming under his touch.

It was too much. He felt inadequate to be her equal, and yet she was holding him in her arms as if she genuinely cared. He forced himself to remember that this was simply just a one-time thing, that they were only sharing a bed since it was a mistake.

“Chojuro…Ao,” Mei mumbled, her voice thick with sleep. “No…”

She clenched her fists against his back, a tremble running through her body beneath him. He felt her chest heave as she began to hyperventilate, the pained noises she made wounding his heart.

She was having a nightmare.

“Mei,” Ao said, struggling to pull himself up from her iron grasp. “Mei, wake up-”

“No!” she screamed, eyes screwed shut as she let go of his yukata, her fist shooting out and slamming into his chest plate. He winced at the feel, a hand coming to go shake her shoulder in an attempt to wake her up.

“Mei, wake up,” he said, looking at the pained expression on her face, the tears that threatened to spill from her long lashes sending a shot of pain through his heart. “Mei!”

Mei let out a whimper, slowly opening her eyes. She was still hyperventilating, Ao instinctively wrapping his arms around her to hold her. Her hands weakly gripped at his back, his dear Mizukage erupting into a fit of sobs.

He held her close until she calmed herself down and she furiously rubbed at the tears that kept falling.

“Are you alright?” he asked, and Mei shoved him away from her.

“Of course I am,” she dismissed, getting out of bed quickly. She stormed off to the bathroom, the lock clicking behind her as she left him confused.

Mei had been nightmare free for a while, something she was greatly thankful for.

Lying to Ao innocently about wanting to keep warm in the night as an excuse to cuddle up with him had gone well, and Mei felt overwhelmed with love in his arms. It had been amazing to fall asleep by his side, something she had dreamed of for years.

Falling asleep had been the mistake she had made, however.

“Foolish little Kage,” the voice of a man long dead echoed in her ears. “Do you really think you can defeat me?”

The smell of poisonous pollen filled her lungs, causing them to seize. She felt like she couldn’t breathe, her chest constricted. Looking around on the battlefield, the forestation jutsu surrounding her, she realized she was alone, the other Kage nowhere to be seen.

Madara Uchiha stood before her, the blue of his Susano’o glowing behind him. He stared at her with those blank Rinnegan eyes, stalking closer.

“You’re so pitifully weak you couldn’t even protect the ones closest to you,” he said, eyes darting to her feet. “Weakness disgusts me, you pathetic excuse for a Mizukage,”

Mei made the mistake of looking down, feeling bile climb her throat and burn worse than her acid.

Chojuro laid dead at her feet, his sweet face pale and drained of blood, an ugly jagged slit from throat to shoulder bleeding sluggishly. Her eyes burned from the pollen and the tears, her hands shaking as she backed away, covering her mouth to muffle the scream.

She tripped, falling backwards before realizing she tripped over another body. Her parents, dead the way she had found them, massacred in their home, her mother’s beautiful hair soaked and matted with blood, her father’s kind smile contorted into something sinister, mouth slit from ear to ear.

More bodies appeared before her. Bodies of fallen subordinates, of people she barely knew, those she had seen briefly during the war. The large body of her jonin sensei, Fuguki, lying on his back, a blade driven into him by friendly hands, hands she used to hold when they were children.

Mei screamed, her voice cut off by the sobs that began to wrack through her body. She scrambled backwards, trying to get far away from Madara as he kept walking slowly towards her.

“You couldn’t even keep your own teammates,” he sneered. “_You_ drove them away. _You_ caused this,”

Mei turned, falling to her hands and knees as she blinked the tears from her eyes.

Zabuza, body riddled with blades, stared back at her blankly. Haku’s sweet little face, the child she had once cared for, dead before her, eyes rolled back and lifeless. Thankfully, Kisame wasn’t looking at her, terrible bitemarks covering his body. His arm was missing, bone sticking out, a leg completely bitten off, puncture wounds from shark bites covering the rest of his body that was actually there.

“I tried,” she cried. “I tried to make them stay,”

“You didn’t try hard enough,” Madara said. “Such a weak woman,”

“I’m not weak,” she spat, forcing herself to her feet.

“Oh?” the tone in his voice seemed mocking. “Prove it,”

The moment she blinked, he had Ao in his grasp, shoving him to the ground at her feet.

“Kill him,” he said. “Kill him, or I will,”

“Lady Mizukage, don’t,” Ao pleaded, and her heart broke once he began to cry.

“Do it!”

Mei shook her head, heart clenching.

“Very well, then,” Madara said, and all she saw was blood on the thin blue blade of his Susano’o, Ao’s garbled, ragged breaths coming to a stop as he fell, dead at her feet.

“No!” Mei screamed, unable to breathe from the pain of her sobs, forcing herself to open her eyes. “Chojuro, Ao…”

“Mei? Mei! Wake up, Mei-”

She woke up, thrashing as Ao held her, calling her name. He placed a hand on the side of her face, his thumb brushing away at the tears that stained her face.

The cry she tried to repress broke through, the tears unwilling to stop as she brought a hand up, brushing them away fruitlessly. Ao held her close, his hand rubbing soothing circles in her back that was so reminiscent of a gesture her father used to do whenever she was upset as a child.

“Are you alright?” Ao asked, and Mei felt so terribly guilty that he had to see the weaker side of her.

She pushed him away, leaving to lock herself in the bathroom.

Mei set the shower onto the hottest setting, stripping as if her clothes were on fire.

She could cry freely in the shower as the water fell around her, curling in on herself. Her hand was a bit swollen and red, aching as she clenched her fist tightly.

She just wanted to be happy, and she finally had something that had made her want to jump for joy only for a terrible reminder of the horror she faced during the war.

It was almost five years ago, and she just wanted to forget about the whole thing. The war had pulled Ao from her, had nearly killed her. The fight the five Kage had endured left them all with some form of trauma, Mei quietly telling Tsunade about her nightmares. She remembered the Sannin telling her about how she sometimes woke up expecting her body to still be bisected, pinned beneath a tree root of her own grandfather’s jutsu’s creation. Ay sometimes flinched at the sound of birds cawing, a reminder of the loss of his right forearm, the air rushing from his lungs as if Madara’s Susano’o had punched him into a slab of earth again. Ohnoki had seen war throughout his entire life, but he was never the same after the Fourth war, slowly becoming more senile as the years went on. Gaara had been the only one to seem the least harmed, but he had nearly lost his best friend, the sight of that sweet boy nearly drawing his last breath forever scarred in his mind.

They had all barely managed to escape their fight against Madara with their lives, and he was dead. They had burned his body after the war, Sasuke the one to cremate him with his Amaterasu.

Madara could never hurt her again, but she still felt the way his fists had felt, the way he had nearly shattered her ribcage with a kick, the heavy bruising and stitched cuts she had come home with. There was a deep scar that ran along the underline of her bust from where Tsunade had to cut into her to reattach the bone so it would heal properly, Madara snapping her fifth rib like a twig to the point where it had protruded out of the skin.

She brought a hand to the scar, feeling the reminder that yes, she had survived the fight, her sobs slowing to a hiccupped cry.

The water began to run cold, pulling her from her thoughts.

They needed to go home.

Mei came out of the bathroom nearly an hour later, her robe fastened tightly over her as she tiredly walked over to her bag to get her clothes. A brief glance at Ao revealed that he was already dressed to head home, his face contorted in worry.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

Mei stopped rifling through her bag to look up at him, obviously not okay. Her eyes were swollen and red, her hand in a similar condition. She felt exhausted from crying, the ache seeming to seep into her soul, all limbs feeling heavy.

“I’m fine,” her voice cracked.

“No, you’re not,”

“Ao, shut up,” she threatened. “I’ll kill you,”

She turned her focus back to grabbing her clothes, stiffening at the feel of arms wrapping around her waist.

Ao pulled her close, turning her so she could press her face into his shoulder.

“Let go of me this instant, or I’ll melt-”

“You’ll melt me where I stand?” he guessed, Mei closing her mouth.

He held her in silence for a moment before Mei returned his embrace, closing her aching eyes and feeling her rapid heartbeat calm from his touch.

“You had a nightmare about the war, didn’t you?”

She kept her mouth shut, not wanting to give it away.

“I have nightmares, too,” Ao admitted. “I feel like I shouldn’t have lived, that Shikaku and Inoichi should have-”

“But you did live,” Mei interrupted.

“I did, but I hated what I became for a long time. Katasuke helped me with it, but I felt like I was nothing but a tool, kept alive on a whim due to science,”

Mei frowned.

“War hurts people,” Ao continued. “I still have nightmares of fighting that Hyuga and fighting Shisui Uchiha. You’ll never forget it, but don’t let it impede on your daily life,”

Mei let out a sigh, letting herself just rest her head on his shoulder.

“It was nothing,” she said.

“No, it was something. I’m not Chojuro. You don’t have to lie to me. I know you’re not the unbreakable woman you try to be,”

“Ao,” her tone was threatening.

“I mean that you’re human. You have emotions, and experiences. You’re bound to be upset from time to time,”

Mei pulled away.

“It was about the war,” she said. “My dead loved ones,”

Ao just nodded, and she felt her chest feel less heavy.

“Does it ever go away?”

“It doesn’t go away, it just gets easier to manage,” he said. “We can talk about this later. We need to get going home,”

Mei gave him a small smile, feeling happiness bloom in her chest.

“You always know just what to say to make me feel better,” she said. “Thank you, Ao,”

“Anything for you, Lady Mizukage,”

Mei gave a light slap to his shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Mei,”

The trip back home was silent, an awkward air hanging around them. Mei was silent, her lip turned down into a frown as they walked back to the village gate. Ao wanted to ask her why she had suddenly got more upset as they began to make their trip home, but he knew it was best not to pry when she was silently seething. He didn’t want to say the wrong thing and have her threaten him.

Chojuro was waiting for them at the gates, the smile that broke out on his face upon seeing them enough to pull Mei from her bad mood. She picked up the pace, walking farther ahead towards her son.

“Mei, Ao, you’re home!” he said, his voice full of joy. “I hope you had a nice-”

He quieted once Mei wrapped her arms around him tightly, holding him close.

She felt him breathe beneath the hands on his back, the way he inhaled deeply before exhaling. His heart beat beneath her hand, a reminder that he was alive.

“Welcome home,” Chojuro said, returning her hug.

“I missed you,”

“You were barely gone for a day,” he chuckled, wincing as Mei crushed him tighter. “Too tight,”

Mei relinquished her grasp on him, feeling relief wash over her like waves. Ao came to her side, placing a hand on the small of her back, a reminder that he was there, not buried under the rubble of the Intel Division, he hadn’t run off at her moment of weakness.

“Come on,” she said, grabbing their hands. “Let’s go home,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mei probably isn't too fond of revealing her weak moments to others as a Kage, having to be the strongest as the face of the village, but it's always good to have someone you can vent to (enter Ao).  
College just started for me, so my updates won't be as frequent, but I will try to get them within at least a few days of one another (unless creative genius sparks otherwise and I type multiple chapters in one go. I upload new chapters as soon as I finish writing/editing them)  
Thank you so much for reading!


	11. Lipstick Smudges

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An opportunity arises, and a risk is taken.

The decision came shortly around the six month mark of Ao’s homecoming, a week after the inauguration ceremony of the Yondaime Tsuchikage.

Chojuro watched them pine for each other painfully from their side, watching as Mei blatantly flirted with Ao, Ao getting flustered, Mei taking his silence as a rejection, the cycle repeating. Every month, they took a trip to Konoha together to visit Ao’s old doctor, making sure his cybernetic prosthetics were up to date, to check in and make sure he was doing well. Mei and Ao always came home with touches that lingered, her hand on his shoulder or his trying to reach out for hers. Ao always stared at Mei when she wasn’t looking, watching her twirl her pen within her hands or reading, anything she did he stared at her with the gaze of someone holding so much love. Mei sometimes sat and stared at him with a dreamy look on her face, as if she were lost in a daydream, a beautiful smile on her face.

Whenever she had free time, Mei was always trying to spend it together with Ao and Chojuro, the three almost inseparable with how frequent they were out and about. They went out to eat for dinner together three times a week, the remaining four days spent making dinner at home. Chojuro might pull his hair out if they didn’t stop skirting around their feelings for one another.

“Behind you,” Ao said, placing a hand on Mei’s back as he slipped behind her to grab a knife while she deboned the fish.

“You’re fine,” she hummed, eyes lingering a little too long as she watched Ao dice the vegetables.

“Do you need any help?” Chojuro asked.

“No, we’re fine with just the two of us,” Ao said, turning to look over his shoulder. “You barely can boil water right. The youth these days, not knowing how to do the basics-”

He pulled his hand back, accidentally having sliced his finger. Mei grabbed a rag, holding his hand in hers as she tended to the wound.

Chojuro watched as they talked together in hushed voices, Mei concerned over his cut as Ao brushed it off as a flesh wound.

“I’ve had worse,” he said, and Chojuro shook his head as he sat back and continued to watch.

Dinner was eventually made with Ao’s cut finger being the only casualty, Chojuro watching as they kept passing glances at one another.

“Aw, Mommy and Daddy still not together yet?”

Chojuro _really_ hated working with Suigetsu sometimes.

Suigetsu let out a laugh, clutching his side as they walked back to the village, the Executioner’s Blade strapped onto his back once more. Mei had had some leniency after Suigetsu had come back to the village, distancing himself from his captor in order to return to a life his brother would have wanted for him, still working with his former team from time to time, the once wanted quad now redeemed. He had nearly cried when he got the blade back, Mei officially instating his title as one of the remaining two Legendary Swordsmen of the Hidden Mist.

It completely had nothing to do with the fact that she was practically family when Suigetsu was growing up, and it definitely wasn’t because he still called her by the nickname he had given her when he was little.

“Mei Mei’s always been this bad at opening up and telling people her emotions,” Suigetsu said. “I mean, she couldn’t even tell Zabz that she had a crush on him when they were teens because she was waiting for him to pick up on it. I have complete respect for my master and all, but he was denser than a rock. Pretty sure his brain was a bunch of rocks just jostling around in his head when he decided to try to overthrow the Yondaime,”

“Do you ever stop talking?” Chojuro asked.

“Taka says it’s my best quality. There’s never silence,” Suigetsu teased. “Point of the fact is that if you want them to stop being so awkward and mushy around one another, just tell Mei to admit her feelings. Worse comes to worse, Captain Stick-Up-His-Ass says no, but I doubt it. He looks so lovesick it makes _me_ want to gag,”

“I can’t just talk to her about that!”

“Course you can. You’re her kid,”

“It’s not like that though!”

Suigetsu shrugged, the gates coming into view. Chojuro squinted, noticing Mei and Ao waiting for him at the gate.

“Aww, they even came to pick you up!”

“Suigetsu!”

The invitation came shortly after Ohnoki officially resigned, Iwa’s council deeming him too old and unfit to rule, the decision passed down to the next best candidate.

“A welcome banquet for Kurotsuchi?” Mei read, flipping over the invitation. “Don’t you know her, Chojuro?”

Chojuro felt a shiver run down his spine at the thought of Kurotsuchi, how she had threatened him and gotten in his face during the war. She was nice, just a bit brash that contrasted drastically with Chojuro’s own personality.

“Yes,”

“We’ll have to come up with a gift,” Ao said, looking at his proposed schedule of their travels.

“That will be the easy part,” Mei waved a hand. “I’ll take care of that. Don’t you worry,”

“We have to pack and leave within the next day or two to get there on time,” Chojuro noted. “I’ll go start making the preparations,”

“Do well,” Ao said, and Chojuro felt his ears burn at the lack of chiding. The amount of trust Ao was giving him to complete this task wasn’t as much as it had when he forced Chojuro to swear to protect Mei with his life, but he still felt the same desire to make Ao proud.

With that, the three finished the day at the Mizukage’s office before departing to their own separate abodes to pack.

Ao hated the Land of Stone. The air was too dry, the rocky plateaus stretching on for miles and miles, the drab color of dirt and rock and more rock not appeasing to the eye. Then again, he had a bias, loving his home hidden by the mountains, shrouded by mist. Chojuro complained about the trip being too long even with the use of transportation, the Stone just not a pleasant place for Kiri nin after their long history despite the past five years of peace.

He loved Mei and seeing her dress up was always a chance he had cherished, the rare occasion she stepped out of her usual garb.

Mei hated banquets of any kind that involved the Kage, not so much because of having to see her fellow leaders, she just hated sitting through the proper ceremonies and being catered to. She knew it was just an excuse for them to all get together and relax, but she really wished she had a choice in her dress. Her seamstress had a dress custom made for Mei, navy like the ocean during a storm. While it had been made with her in mind, sleeveless to accentuate her form, but it felt too tight, the fabric stiff when she tried to breathe deep. The seamstress had insisted on slits in the dress to allow for her to kick if she needed to fight, but Mei felt more like a doll being dressed up than a fellow Kage.

“You look amazing as always, Lady Mizukage!” Chojuro said, smiling as she adjusted his tie.

“Chojuro, dear,” Mei sighed. “If you don’t start just calling me ‘Mei’ I will revoke your sword privileges,”

“Oh. I-I’m sorry, Mei,” he stuttered. “It’s just not often we get to dress up,”

“You look very handsome,” she said, watching Chojuro blush.

“I am? Thank you,”

Ao scoffed, giving a roll of his eyes as Mei preened him, making sure Chojuro’s hair looked perfect.

“You need to have more confidence, dear. Someday, you’ll take my place and you’ll be the face of the Mist,”

“You really think so?”

“I know so,” Mei gave him a soft smile. “Should we get going?”

Chojuro nodded, linking his arm with hers.

“Let’s get going, Chojuro, Ao,” Mei flashed them both a smile, ready to get the celebration over and done with.

Mei loathed Hashirama Senju for starting the custom of the Kage trying to get together as frequently as possible, but she was also somewhat grateful, since it allowed her to catch up with the current and former living Kage, especially one she would call a friend.

“Your kid’s really grown up since the war,” Tsunade said, downing her glass of sake. “You must be proud,”

Mei let out a little laugh. Her kid. Chojuro was the son she adored immensely, and she was impressed Tsunade had picked up on that despite her not making Chojuro’s adoption public knowledge to the remaining nations.

“I am very proud,” Mei admitted, watching as Chojuro and Kurotsuchi gossiped together, the two working on becoming friends. “Tell me again why your grandfather thought these dinners would be beneficial?”

“He wanted to drink with the Kage,” Tsunade shrugged. “Something about drinking together as brothers,”

She made a face, and Mei held out her glass of wine. Tsunade clinked her sake cup to it, the two taking a drink.

“Drinking together like sisters, I suppose,”

Tsunade hummed.

“I’m glad I’m not the only woman here,” Tsunade said. “We even outnumber the men right now. It’s incredible,”

Kurotsuchi seemed proud to accept her role as the new Tsuchikage, a fresh new face amongst the leaders. She was talking with the Raikage’s right hand, flashing a big grin.

“Someday soon we’ll be doing this for my dear Chojuro,” Mei mused, a smile gracing her lips.

“Already picked him as your successor?”

“There’s no one else I would rather have take my place as Mizukage,”

Mei’s heart swelled with joy as she thought about Chojuro and how much he had grown. His confidence had really grown due to her constantly driving it into him that he was strong, brave, handsome, all the qualities he was but used to be insecure of. He was almost there, just a bit more learning before he was fully prepared to take her place. Ao was forcing him to learn anything and everything he knew as well as anything she knew just to make sure he was prepared.

She expected that within the next few years, she would be standing before her village to introduce the next Mizukage.

“What about him?” Tsunade pointed her pinky out to Ao.

“Yeah, what about him?” Kakashi said, sliding into his seat on Mei’s other side. “I heard you guys talking and if I hear the Raikage tell me one more time that you can eat an orange, peel and all, I might Chidori him,”

“You Hokage are quite nosy,” Mei said, finishing the remaining wine in her glass.

“Aren’t you glad you got him back?” Kakashi said. “Tono’s a bit crazy, but he’s a good doctor,”

“That he is, I will give your village credit for raising such a fine individual,”

“Answer the question,” Tsunade said.

“We’ve discussed it,” Mei said, looking at her empty wineglass as if it would refill so she could drink enough to not remember this conversation. “He’ll step down and officially retire and I’ll take his place,”

“Aw, how cute,” Kakashi teased, and she knew he was smirking under that damned mask. “My cute little students are already gearing up to kick my ass out of my seat,”

“You didn’t want it,” Tsunade chimed in.

“Neither did you, Princess Tsunade,” Kakashi said. “Naruto’s out travelling around with Sasuke, so I think Sakura’s my best candidate,”

While Kakashi and Tsunade began to argue over which of his students would become Hokage, Mei got up from her seat and quietly wandered over to Ao. He looked nervous, being back in a room with the fellow advisors and leaders of the villages, his eye set on watching Chojuro as he talked with the Kazekage. She recognized the look in his eye, the way he got when the room was too loud, too crowded, overwhelming his senses and he just needed a moment of peace and quiet before continuing. She knew it stemmed from him being self-conscious about his appearance after the war, the way he grew nervous when he had his arms bare to reveal the heavy scarring from surviving the blast.

She personally thought that no matter what, he was still her Ao and would always be handsome, but she knew he didn’t view himself the same way she did. 

“You look like you need a break from this,” Mei said, nudging his side with her elbow.

“Are you saying that because you’re concerned or because you need a getaway?”

Mei smirked, already leading the way out to the rock gardens through the glass doors, the bustle of the party left behind them.

The sun was beginning to set over the mountains of the Land of Stone, painting the sky with a mix of red, orange and blue hues. It was wonderfully silent save for a few bugs chirping into the darkening sky, a relief from the stiff political talk and gossip. A few stars were out, Mei’s gaze focused on the sky.

While Mei observed the sky, Ao observed her.

He never would tell her out loud in fear that she might be upset, but she was starting to show small signs of her age. He saw it barely there in the lines of her mouth, the crinkle in her eye. It made her look wiser, the face of a woman who had seen hardships and still conquered them, now the shining beauty of their village.

She was still the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on, enjoying the warmth of her hand on the small of his back in the chilly dusk. It didn’t matter if she was missing from the banquet or if anyone would attempt to look for her, he was content to be by her side. If they could be together in comfortable silence, he would happily live his whole life that way so long as she was next to him, comforting him when the world became too much to handle for just one man.

“Sometime soon, we’ll be doing this at home,” she said, breaking the comfortable silence. “It’s Chojuro’s turn next,”

“He’s still too young,”

“Oh, hush. He’s going to make a fine Mizukage,”

“He learned from the best example,” Ao said, and Mei would blame the warmness of her face on the cool air at his genuine words. “He’s lucky to have you be his mentor,”

She leaned her head onto his shoulder, letting out a sigh of content.

“I’m getting too old, anyway,” Mei said. “Too old to marry, too old to lead-”

“The Shodaime was pushing seventy when he because Mizukage. You’re a spring chick compared to that,” Ao said. “You’re not too old,”

“I am,” Mei frowned. “No man would want someone past their prime,”

“You make it seem as if you’re going to crumble to dust in a day,”

“I might!”

Ao let out a laugh, stopping once he felt Mei dig her nails into his arm.

“You’re not unmarriageable,” he said. “Men should be throwing themselves at your feet in droves to get the chance to marry you,”

“Name one,”

“Huh?”

“Name one man that would want to marry me,” Mei repeated, pulling away from his grasp to look at him.

_Me_, he thought. He had wanted to tell her so badly how he felt for her for years, but given the opportunity, he found himself unable to admit his feelings to her. She might laugh at him, worry settling in deep. He was still nervous to tell her that he often thought of what married life with her would be like, getting to wake up by her side and fall asleep with her in his arms every night, to kiss her whenever he pleased. The sudden push to tell her was quickly buried by his own self-doubt despite every fiber of his being screaming at him to just admit his love to her.

The scared look on Ao’s face made her face set into a pout, and he wanted to kiss her so badly. She looked down, not wanting to meet his eye.

“I see,” she said. “I think I’ll go back inside,”

Mei knew it. She knew he didn’t feel the same way about her, her chest aching. She wanted him to answer with his own name so badly, to give her the chance to tell him about how many times she had wanted to just lean over and kiss him. All she wanted was to be by his side, hold him and love him until all his pain went away, to take care of him when he was down and complete the family she had begun.

She had always wanted to be his, Chojuro be their son that they watched grow and become a leader together. His silence gave her another answer, one that she didn’t want to hear.

She turned, his hand reaching out to grab hers. Mei gave him a confused look, an eyebrow raised.

“Wait,” he said, meeting her gaze.

“What’re you doing, kid?” Kurotsuchi asked, hands on her hips as she startled Chojuro from his spot. “Shouldn’t you be, I dunno, guarding your Kage?”

The Swordsman jumped, letting out a strangled squawk.

“Nothing! I’m doing nothing!” he covered, watching as Kurotsuchi peered around him to see out the floor length windows with a perfect view out to the rock gardens.

She saw the Mizukage and that older guy, the one she was pretty sure was her aide. They seemed to be discussing something, a pout on her face and a confused frown on his.

“Looks like you’re spying to me,” she said.

“Um, kind of,” Chojuro admitted.

“Isn’t that your Mizukage?”

“She’s also my mother,”

Kurotsuchi let out a low whistle.

“Damn, she looks really young to be your mom. Did she have you at like, eleven?”

“I’m adopted,”

Kurotsuchi opened her mouth in a silent _ah_, watching the two from the window.

“Don’t you have important things to discuss with the other Kage?” Chojuro asked, Kurotsuchi pushing into his side to peek.

“That’s all boring talk,” she waved. “Is there some drama I should know about?”

“They’ve liked each other for years, but haven’t said anything yet,” Chojuro said, gesturing to the two. “I just wanted to see if they were arguing,”

“Looks like it’s getting good,” Kurotsuchi said, watching as Ao reached out to grab Mei’s hand.

“Ao, let go of me,” Mei said, blinking tears of frustration that began to force herself not to cry and get upset. “You obviously think I’m some hideous spinster, so let me go back and drink with Lady Hokage,”

“I don’t think that,” Ao said.

“Well, you were silent when I asked you who would marry me, so I’ll take that as you thinking that I’m unbearable to look at,” Mei pulled her hand from his as she began to walk back towards the door. “Fine. I’m going back inside,”

“Please, wait,” he said, and Mei stopped, turning back to look at him.

“Go on, Ao. I don’t have all night,”

“I don’t think that of you,”

“Then what do you think of me?” she asked, throwing her hands up in frustration.

“I think you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met,” Ao said, watching her eyes widen at his words. Now that he was saying it, he just couldn’t stop. “You’re smart, wise, and powerful. You’re the most amazing woman I’ve gotten the privilege to know. I’ve admired you since the day I met you, and I want to devote all my time being by your side, if you’d let me,”

“This is all your own thoughts? Not just because I’m your Mizukage?”

“I’ve always felt this, and I always will, even when you’re no longer Mizukage,”

“What about when I’m no longer young and beautiful?”

“Even then,”

She moved closer, his left hand coming to cup her cheek.

“You were one of my heroes when I was young,” she admitted, leaning into his touch. “I used to watch you when you were in the village with the Undertaker unit and admired you for your strength and your knowledge. I care for you deeply. I absolutely adore you. I’ve always found you incredibly handsome, especially now. When you were gone I thought about you every single day. You are the epitome of everything I have ever looked for in another person, and there is no one else I would rather have by my side, as well,”

“Lady Fifth, I don’t deserve that,”

“Yes, Ao, you do. You deserve to be happy,” she said, leaning in closer.

“But Lady Fifth-”

“My name is Mei Terumi,” Mei said, her hands coming to cup his face. “And I love you, Ao,”

Her hands shook from where they were, her heart pounding so loud she could hear it in her ears. She let out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding, feeling lighter as butterflies nervously bounced around in her stomach, waiting for his answer.

Ao scanned her face, noticing the sincerity of her words. He had felt that he was undeserving of any of her love. Knowing now that she loved him regardless of that allowed for him to stop being a coward about his feelings, giving him the courage to be honest with her.

“I love you, Mei,” he said, voice barely above a whisper, a quiet confession.

Mei closed the distance between the two of them, her lips soft against his as they hesitantly kissed. It was short, sweet, and everything he knew her kisses would be. She found herself smiling, noticing his lips were a bit chapped, but not in a bad way. The kiss felt uncertain, as if he were afraid to kiss her, his free hand shakily coming to her side.

He pulled away first, swallowing nervously. Mei looked at his lips, traces of her crimson lipstick smudged against his lower lip. He looked into her eyes, the look she gave him so full of love enough to calm his worries.

She smiled before allowing him to pull her in for another kiss, this one more desperate, needy, the desire to make up for all those years of unsaid love expressed in the passion he put into it. Her arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him close as his hands found her waist.

They pulled apart in order to breathe, Mei letting out a nervous laugh. Ao joined, letting her pepper his face with kisses now that she was free to do so. While he could sense that they were being spied on by a certain son of hers, he couldn’t bring himself to care as he let himself be happy, holding her close in his arms as she kept kissing him.

No matter how many times she did it, he would probably never grow tired of her warm lips, her kisses sweeter than honey.

“How long?” she asked.

“I knew the moment I laid eyes on you,” he admitted. “I love you, Mei,”

Mei smiled brighter as she pressed a kiss to his lips once again, his answer the only one she truly needed.

“I love you, too, Ao,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! They confessed! And kissed! 
> 
> The next chapter will be the last one :( Thank you all so much for sticking this out with me and giving me such lovely feedback and just enjoying this! It means a lot to me and you all never fail to make me smile :)
> 
> Thank you, thank you, thank you all so much for reading!!! <3


	12. forever and always, eternally yours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things change, but not entirely in a bad way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A kidnapping, a time skip, a fan club, a secret kid, and formal ceremonies? Oh my.  
There's a lot in this chapter, but this is the wrap-up of the story!

Ao was missing.

_Ao_ was _missing_.

“Lady Fifth, please calm down,” one of the hunter nin from the ANBU unit said. “Please, we’re trying to find him-”

“I should have never sent him to Konoha by himself,” Mei said, frustrated and worried as she paced her office. “What do you mean he simply disappeared?”

“It seems that our informant saw a man approach him, and they simply vanished,” the ANBU guard said. “We’re trying to find him, ma’am,”

Mei worried her lip, Chojuro frantically giving orders in her stead.

“Lady Mizukage is missing,” the ANBU alerted Chojuro at two in the morning, all but barging into his room a few hours after he had managed to convince Mei to go home.

Chojuro sighed, reaching for his glasses.

He knew exactly where she was, and he hoped by tomorrow he didn’t have an international scandal on their hands.

Mei, had she not been Mizukage and in good diplomatic relations with Konoha, would have absolutely burnt the whole Land of Fire to the ground to find Ao.

It was nearing dawn as she crept into Konoha, taking the all too familiar path to the scientific ninja tool research facility and sneaking into the one office that was always unlocked.

“Dr. Tono,” she said, voice firm as he jolted from where he dozed on his desk, unfinished projects cluttering the free space.

“Lady Mizukage?” Katasuke mumbled, rubbing his eye as he reached for his glasses. “What’re you doing here so early?”

“Do you know where Ao is?” she asked, suppressing the urge to just start spitting lava as she had been known to do when she needed a quick answer. “He’s missing,”

Katasuke sat up straighter, instantly awake.

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “He showed up for his checkup, and we got chatting and I gave him a new model for his leg, but I last saw him outside the hotel he’s staying at,”

Mei hummed, processing his story.

“Are you sure he’s gone?”

“Absolutely positive,”

Mei paused, something on Katasuke's face giving her the feeling that he wasn't being completely honest with her. 

“Don’t lie. What else did you tell him?”

Katasuke frowned, a hand coming to rest against his chin.

“I did mention that there was someone who had contacted me about joining an organization,” Katasuke admitted. “I declined, since they wanted me to make weapons to destroy the shinobi systems, but-”

“An organization?”

“The man who talked to me said they called themselves ‘Kara’ and that he wanted to recruit me,” Katasuke continued. “His name was Kashin Koji, but he left without saying anything. I mentioned it to Ao, and-”

Realization dawned upon his face as his mouth hung open in a silent _oh_, Mei deciding then and there that the moment she got her Ao back she was going to positively _murder_ him if he was doing what she thought he was doing.

Ao really didn’t think this would happen the way it did, but then again, he seemed to just naturally have bad luck. It seemed that the only real good luck he had was surviving the war and confessing to Mei his love. Being captured while trying to investigate the man who tried to get Katasuke to join his organization and tied up somewhere in a dirty cave in the middle of the Land of Fire seemed to be the pinnacle of his bad luck as of late.

“You could have just joined,” Kashin Koji said, eyes slit into a glare. “We need someone with your kind of genjutsu ability,”

“I’d never do that to Katasuke,” Ao said, wincing as Koji gave him a swift kick to the side.

“You’d be beneficial as an Outer,”

“I’m still loyal to my village,”

“Pathetic, really, the war hero now just an old man,” Kashin Koji said, moving to make a hand sign. “Even moreso now that you don’t have that Byakugan you were so infamous for,”

Ao grimaced, trying to recognize what the hand signs he was weaving were in the dark. He wasn’t that old, having just celebrated his fifty first birthday, so he didn’t appreciate the jab at his age, but he definitely didn’t appreciate Kashin Koji trying to beat information out of him in order to try to convince him to join his neo-Akatsuki-like organization.

He had nearly died in a war to stop the Akatsuki, and he’d be damned if he joined some wannabe organization.

His vision began to fade, dots of black speckling across his eye as he felt Koji grip his hair tight. He vaguely heard noise, his consciousness failing as he passed out.

An emergency conference with Kakashi granted Mei clearance to go after this man who had tried to tempt Katasuke, the Mizukage deciding to go alone, a Konoha ANBU squad to follow her from a safe distance to not interfere with her search.

They also served to make sure she didn’t start tearing the whole countryside apart in the search for her partner, her anger scaring skilled nin.

Mei cursed, wishing she had been able to sense as well as Ao so that she could find him quickly and bring him home. If he managed to get himself kidnapped on some rogue shinobi chase, she was going to keep him attached to her side forever once she found him.

If she found him, a negative part of her mind told her. Fear began to course through her veins as she searched, fear of not finding Ao, fear of him leaving her for good this time.

She pushed those thought from her head as she neared a small cave, noticing a familiar wood marking of the hunter nin of Kiri’s ANBU. It was similar to the one Ao had set years ago during the Kage summit, and her lip quirked up into a brief smile as she realized he had believed, wholeheartedly, that she would come find him.

“If you don’t get up, you’re as good as dead,” Kashin Koji threatened, pulling a kunai from its holster. He watched Ao, the signs of him stirring barely there.

The air suddenly smelled off, he noticed, a thick mist filling the cave. He scowled, having been found. The mist was thick, but it stung against the skin that was bare to the wind.

Only one kunoichi had that kind of skill.

“Touch one hair on his head and you’re as good as dead,” Mei threatened, lowering the pH of her acidic mist as she got closer to Ao, focusing on keeping the mist thick enough that she could grab him and escape.

“Lady Mizukage, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“You took something of mine, and I’m taking him back,” she said, tracking Kashin Koji’s movements. “By force, if necessary,”

“If a fight is what you want, a fight is what you’ll have,”

“Then approach me,”

Ao came to, the first thing he saw a flash of bright red that he recognized as Mei’s lava release. She had created a wall in between Kashin Koji and them to give her the opportunity to escape, kneeling to grab Ao in her arms. While she greatly disliked the fact that she couldn’t kill Kashin Koji, his toad summon too strong, she needed to get Ao out of there immediately and to Konoha’s hospital.

“You idiot,” she scolded. “If you ever do something like this again, I’ll kill you,”

Ao had never been happier to hear those words, even if he now had a seething girlfriend who could spit lava threatening to kill him, an empty threat.

After a brief healing session and a thorough scolding from both his girlfriend and his doctor friend, Ao and Mei were on their way back to the Mist.

Mei’s face was set in a scowl most of the trip home, refusing to speak to Ao. He didn’t say anything, the boat ride across the Land of Water silent.

He scooted closer to her in his seat, trying hard not to think about how adorable she looked, hands folded across her chest as she frowned.

“I’m sorry, Mei-”

“You better be sorry,” she said, anger seeping into her words like her acid. “I could have lost you,”

“I’m not that easy to kill-”

“You almost died once before,” Mei snapped, glaring up at him. “You were gone for three years, and I almost lost you again. I’d never be able to forgive myself if I couldn’t protect you,”

She was genuinely upset, and Ao felt guilty for worrying her. He wrapped his arm around her, careful to not use his right, bandaged from where Koji had slashed at it with a poisoned tranquilizer tip.

Mei leaned into him, arms still folded.

“I’m upset with you,” she said. “But I appreciate the gesture,”

Ao sighed, relaxing only once Mei released the tension in her back, nestling into his side.

Before either of them realized, a year had passed. Six years since the war ended, three years since Ao came home.

Kirigakure was growing. Their home, one that had once been drenched in the blood of enemy and friend alike in the streets now was clean, full of life. For the first time in their lives, it was an era of complete peace, no disputes with fellow nations leading into smaller wars, no massive losses to their shinobi rosters.

The Mizukage was a face everyone in the village knew, usually found taking afternoon strolls through the main road. Where she was found, her advisor was as well, hand in hand as they enjoyed the quiet of the day, people heading from work to get home as the day began to unwind.

The second face that was well known in the village next to the Mizukage was her retainer. Chojuro assisted in any way possible, gaining confidence in his ability as a shinobi. His efforts during the war were not forgotten, the people respecting him as a hero in his own right, one of the last of the Seven Swordsmen. He even had a fan club, as Mei would tease him, some small group of genin lead by a young kunoichi named Misuno following after him as he worked.

“Take it as a form of flattery,” Ao insisted as Chojuro told them one morning over breakfast. “If I had a fan club, I would,”

“You did have a fan club, dear,” Mei said, coming around him to give his shoulders a squeeze. “I was the president, the vice president, the secretary, the treasurer and the sole member of the Ao fan club,”

Ao nearly choked on his tea when she pressed a kiss to his cheek, Chojuro letting out a laugh.

“Was?” Chojuro joked.

“I had a group of admirers,” Mei mused as she began to knead Ao’s stiff shoulders. He had been complaining about phantom pain earlier that morning.

“Your teammates don’t count,” Ao said.

“They do so!” Mei countered.

“Not if you threatened one of them into a dinner date,”

Mei let out a laugh, remembering the terrified look on Kisame’s face when she had threatened him, demanding that if he didn’t take her out on her first date he would never live to see thirty. The laugh turned bittersweet when she remembered that he only lived a bit past that, but the memories she had of the boys was the past.

“Be proud that Chojuro has some admirers,” she chided Ao. “Chojuro, sweetie, please make sure you bring that missive to the mailboat before noon today,”

“I will,”

The rest of breakfast divulged into comfortable silence, Mei leaning close to Ao as they both watched Chojuro prepare for the day, telling them his plans and what time he would be coming home.

“Is that the Mizukage on a date?” Misuno asked, standing up on her toes to peer over the stone wall.

The Mizukage was with her partner, the two walking hand in hand and talking quietly to themselves.

“We shouldn’t spy,” her teammate said. “Sensei might get mad, or Lady Fifth might get scary if she finds out we’re spying on her date,”

“What are you children doing?”

The sudden voice behind them had the three jolt from their spots, Misuno turning around and face to face with her hero.

She had heard of his deeds when she was younger in the academy, the man who singlehandedly protected the daimyo and the Mizukage from a swarm of Zetsus, one of the few shining examples of a hero in their village. The man who, up until a year prior, had been the last remaining formally trained legendary Seven Swordsmen of the Mist.

“Run along,” Chojuro said. “Don’t make your sensei worry about you,”

Her two teammates ran off, but before she could, Chojuro stopped her.

“Your name is Misuno, right?” he said, watching her nod with a wide-eyed stare. “I heard from your teachers that you have a talent for kenjutsu,”

“I was the best in my class,” Misuno said. “Ika-sensei said that I could be a Swordsman if I tried hard enough!”

“Did she now?” Chojuro said.

“Can you teach me?” Misuno asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “Please, Mr. Chojuro!”

Chojuro gave her a kind smile.

“If you can keep up, then I’ll teach you everything I know,”

Mei nearly had a heart attack one morning as she walked to the Mizukage’s office alone, Ao having taken Chojuro out for an early morning spar.

She could recognize those facial features anywhere, her heart aching at the reminder of her loss as she quickly approached the mother and child.

“Excuse me,” Mei said, knowing that she no doubt looked like a madwoman with the wide look in her eyes.

“Good morning, Lady Mizukage,” the woman greeted her, a hand coming to protectively shield her son. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Have we met before?” Mei asked.

“No, we just moved from Miru Island,” the woman said, an eyebrow raised. Mei took in her black hair, pulled back into a ponytail resting over her shoulder.

“Your son,” Mei said, peering around her leg to see the shy boy. “Is he…?”

The woman’s face was set in a stern glare, the protectiveness of a mother.

“I’m not-” Mei sighed. “I apologize if I come off as rude, but is his father by any chance-”

“He’s gone,” she said. “He had no name,”

Mei gave her a knowing look, the two women wordlessly naming the man in question. It was still dangerous to flaunt the name of a missing nin, a dead one at that.

“He was my teammate,” Mei explained, her voice low. “One of my closest friends,”

The woman looked down at her son, Mei kneeling down to his level.

“Hi,” he gave a small wave, barely peering out from behind her legs. There was no doubt to that face, the silvery gills on his cheekbones, the face structure so similar to his.

“Shizuma, manners,” his mother reminded him. “That’s Lady Mizukage,”

“It’s fine,” Mei reassured. “I’m Mei. It’s nice to meet you, Shizuma,”

Her teammates may be gone, but at least Zabuza’s legacy and the Hoshigaki bloodline remained.

The reminder of her dear friend later would receive an invitation to attend the academy to learn kenjutsu, as well as several photos of Kisame during their chunin and jonin days, Mei’s favorite photo one taken of the three of them right after they received their jonin promotions.

“I think it’s time,” Mei sighed, leaning her head onto Ao’s shoulders.

They had managed to sneak away from the droll meeting with the financial council, numbers never being much of Mei’s strong suit. When one knew how to kill efficiently, all that mattered is that you knew how much you were getting paid. Managing to get Ao to skip the meeting with her had been a feat in and of itself, but now, they were happy to be away from the stiff talk, a box of finished chocolates that they had shared lying right beside their bags as they took in the quiet evening.

He had taken her to a cliff by the bay, just outside of the village. When he was younger, he would go out there to escape from the world for a bit, just to sit and watch the waves, listening to their song as they crashed against the rocky side. Now, he could take the one woman he loved with his whole being, the two getting the chance to shirk their duties for a moment to just be themselves.

Ao let out a sigh, leaning onto her.

“If you feel ready, then I’ll support the both of you wholeheartedly,” he said.

“I knew you would,” Mei’s hand came up to cup the side of his face, her thumb rubbing soothing strokes across his cheek. “I love you,”

He smiled, pressing a kiss to her temple.

The moon was full, reflecting off the bay, the stars flitting over the deep blue surface like diamonds strewn across fabric. It was so quiet, so calming.

Ao smiled to himself as he felt Mei wrap her arms around his waist. He had come so far after the war. Before the war, he never would have imagined being able to sit by her side as her equal, let alone confess his true feelings for her and have them be returned. He still had bad days, but they were easier when he got to wake up and see Mei’s beautiful face, lax as she slept soundly by his side.

He loved being one of the very select few to see that secret side of her. The side of Mei that was just Mei Terumi, not the Mizukage, not the kunoichi, not even the former noble girl. Mei was beautiful in every form he had seen her in, still making his heart beat painfully fast when she shot him a quick smile or whenever she kissed him, her kisses hot like lava and full of passion. All the hardships they had gone through together were worth it to be together, and he would do it a million times over again just to be hers.

Mei laced her fingers with his, giving his right hand a tight squeeze.

“We should visit Katasuke soon,” she mused. “I’m sure our dear friend misses you,”

“Or you miss him,” Ao teased. “He keeps telling me that you really don’t need to give him so much funding. He’s having a hard time allocating it,”

“He’ll manage,”

They fell into silence again, listening to the calm of the night.

Mei looked up at the stars, the way her face was scrunched up a sign she was contemplating something. Ao recognized that look as one she usually gave when she was faced with a difficult decision.

She wondered what her parents would think of her. She had lived more than half of her life with their absence, half of her life with the absence of the boys. The people she had grown closest to in the earlier part of her life had all died, but the two people she was closest to now filled the aching hole in her heart.

Mei looked at Ao, his gaze fixed on the ocean. She felt overwhelmed with how much she loved him, sometimes forgetting how much she truly did love him. Being Mizukage had been her dream, being able to accomplish it with him by her side was truly a blessing.

Hot tears pricked her eyes, ones she would blame on the cool air rolling off the bay stinging her eyes as she really stared at the man before her.

He had his moments where he doubted his place in their relationship, usually relenting once Mei pinned him down and pressed kisses all along his body. She noticed how he sometimes stared at younger couples, couples unscarred from constant years of shinobi work, and it made her heart ache. There could be no other man in her life that she would love more than him.

Maybe Chojuro, but he was her baby no matter how old he got, not her love, so it was different.

Ao was her love, the first time she had called him her partner to the council leaving her full of giddiness, the man she got the pleasure to give herself, mind and body, to. Ao was the one who held her when she had nightmares, pressed gentle kisses to the top of her head as he rubbed her back. Ao was the one who would hand her a cup of her favorite tea when he noticed she was getting tired from sitting at her desk all day, words blurring together from staring at document after document. Ao cooked her dinner when she was tired, rubbed her back when she so much as complained about it, surprised her with sweets when he noticed she was stressed.

His love was shown in quiet ways with her, little gestures. Flowers left on her bedside table from when he went on a morning jog while she slept. A necklace similar to the one her mother used to wear, the one that had been stolen from her sometime shortly after becoming Mizukage, having never been found, Mei deeming it unnecessary when there was unrest that needed to be calmed, for her birthday. Waking up from a nap at her desk to find the remainder of her paperwork completed for her, his forgery of her signature almost eerily accurate to the point where even Chojuro couldn’t tell the difference. Quick kisses before anyone looked and noticed them, still so hesitant to kiss her despite it being over a year since they confessed.

His absence had hurt so much, but she had to ignore her feelings in order to lead the village the way he would have wanted her to. He would have wanted her to persist after he was gone, something he would have been adamant about. 

Then, he had come home, come back to her.

She gave his hand another squeeze, pulling it close to kiss his scarred knuckles.

“Ao?”

“Yes, Mei?”

Mei looked up to him, meeting his gaze.

“After everything is settled, let’s get married,” she said, watching his cheeks flush. “It doesn’t have to be big. It can just be us, and Chojuro as our witness, if you want,”

Ao let out a strangled noise, all proper thinking coming to a stop once he completely processed her words.

“You want to marry me?” Ao sputtered.

She wanted to marry him? He didn’t deserve someone as wonderful and talented as Mei, he thought. She was the absolute light of his life, the closest thing to a divine being he had ever seen, and she wanted to spend the rest of her life by his side.

She loved him so much she asked him.

He was going to ask her once the ring he had commissioned was finished, the jeweler currently still working on carving into the band that was going to be adorned with sapphires. Ao had had everything planned, a nice dinner out to her favorite restaurant followed by an evening at home alone with her, and he would ask her before bed. She had beaten him to it, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Mei laughed.

“Of course, you idiot,” she said. “I love you so much. I want to spend the rest of my life watching this village grow with you,”

“I’d be honored to be your husband,” Ao responded, something coherent.

Mei laughed sweetly, pulling him in for a kiss.

Chojuro, in all the years Ao had known him, always had been a nervous mess of anxiety whenever he had to speak directly to the council of elders.

The council and the daimyo sat at the table behind the closed doors in front of them, Chojuro standing in between them. There was a slight tremble in his frame, but the firm hand Ao kept on his back made sure his back was straight, Mei’s hand on his shoulder to give him a comforting squeeze.

“Are you ready, dear?” Mei asked, and Chojuro took a step before them, pushing open the doors with a confidence Ao had never seen before.

It made him incredibly proud, following after him with Mei by his side, her fingers laced with his as they made their way inside.

Conferences with the daimyo always dragged on unnecessarily long, in Mei’s opinion, but it was worth attending when the matter came to Chojuro.

Ao took his seat next to the other councilmembers, Mei and Chojuro left standing before the table.

“What is the reason why you’ve called this conference, Lady Mizukage?” one of the elders asked.

“I wish to resign my title as Mizukage,” Mei said, bowing before the council. “I believe it is time I pass on my duty to another who is capable of protecting this village with the same strength, and I would like to nominate Chojuro for the position in my stead,”

“Are you absolutely sure of this, Godaime?” the daimyo asked her, his gaze darting between Chojuro and Mei. “You’ve only been Mizukage for eight years,”

“I will still assist by being his advisor, but I believe it’s time to turn the hat over to someone a bit younger,” Mei said. “His young face as the face of the village will truly show that the Mist is in a new era of peace,”

“I did assist and take charge of the daimyo protection squad during the war,” Chojuro said. “And I am the last of the Legendary Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. I believe that I am qualified to hold the title of Mizukage,”

The elders mumbled amongst themselves, a jolt of fear startling Chojuro.

“Was that good?” he whispered to Mei.

“You’re doing brilliant,” she gave him a reassuring squeeze to his hand.

“Lord Ao, what do you think?”

“I think Chojuro is perfectly capable of leading the village as the next Mizukage,” Ao said. “I vouched for Lady Fifth, and I can say, without a doubt, that Chojuro will continue her peaceful policy and bring about new changes to the village. He was perfectly capable of protecting her before my absence, and in my absence assumed my duty and did well. I barely had anything to teach him. He’s a prodigy in his own right, an exemplary shinobi, and the only candidate I could think of if I had to choose someone to replace Lady Fifth. You have my word,”

Chojuro felt his eyes mist up, blinking quickly to try to fight the urge to cry. Hearing Ao praise him was still new, his word meaning everything to Chojuro as one of the people he admired greatly.

“I’m worried about what this will look to other villages,” Genji spoke up. “Lady Fifth, Chojuro has legally been your son for a few years, and now you’re ready to retire your title of Kage in favor of passing it on to him. We don’t want to look like the Sand,”

“I adopted Chojuro due to personal reasons,” Mei said. “His adoption has nothing to do with his nomination as next Mizukage, and I do not intend to set the precipice of a dynastic reign with his nomination,”

“My nomination comes from the people who support me,” Chojuro said.

“Lady Fifth is in the height of her approval ratings,” the daimyo said. “Are you absolutely sure you wish to go forth with this?”

“Absolutely,” Mei said. “I fulfilled my duty with brilliance, and I expect the same of Chojuro. There is no one else I would entrust the village to, and he is already in line as my successor in the event I am killed,”

“You do have a point,” the daimyo hummed. “I accept,”

“The council also accepts,” Genji said.

Chojuro felt his face heat up, unable to keep himself from smiling widely.

He was going to be the next Mizukage, something he never thought he would achieve.

As Mei hugged him tightly in congratulations, Chojuro let himself tear up.

She pressed a quick kiss to his cheek, her embrace tight.

“I’m very proud of you, Chojuro, dear,” she said, her voice wavering a tad as she swallowed the lump growing in her throat, blinking the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. “I’m so proud of my son,”

Chojuro returned her hug, not caring if the council judged him as he felt the first tremble of sobs come on as he buried his face into Mei’s shoulder.

A cool hand rested on the shoulder Mei wasn’t clinging to, Chojuro raising his head just enough to see the proud smile on Ao’s face.

“Congratulations, Chojuro. You deserve it,”

That, of course, brought on a new wave of tears, Ao and Mei holding their crying son as the council watched their little family, a mix of confusion and understanding as the new Mizukage wept tears of joy.

Ao leaned against the doorframe to their bedroom as he watched Mei sit at her vanity, lips turned in a scowl as she fixed her eyeshadow. The alarm clock on his side of the bed let him know that the ceremony was going to start in half an hour, and though Mei knew this, she seemed content in humming to herself as she moved onto blending in her blush.

“You look beautiful, as always,” he sighed. “Can we go?”

“I need to put on my lipstick,” Mei said, grabbing for it. “There’s no need to be so impatient, Ao,”

Actually, yes there was a need. He had finished getting ready thirty minutes ago when Mei had told him that she was “just five minutes away” from being done.

“At this rate, they’ll start the ceremony without you,” Ao said.

“Ao, don’t be ridiculous,” Mei carefully lined her lips, pursing them. “I’m not going to be late to my own son’s inauguration,”

“Then let’s get going,”

“I’m not done!”

“Chojuro left an hour ago! He’s probably waiting on us,”

Mei finished putting on her lipstick, admiring her makeup in the mirror one last time before getting up.

“Alright, alright,” she said.

“Back in my day, I would have been at least an hour early to something as important as this,” Ao began, Mei’s scoff of laughter stopping him. “What?”

“You’re beginning to act your age, dear,” she teased, pressing a kiss to his cheek as he handed her her hat. “Let’s go see our boy,”

Chojuro was fine through all the poking and prodding, the seamstress insisting on tailoring a suit for him, needles stabbing into his arms at the seams. He was fine through the long procedural talk the elders gave him, the rundown of the ceremony, what would follow, the other Kage coming in attendance, etcetera, things Chojuro already knew from Mei.

He was fine walking up to the top of the Mizukage’s tower, opening the door and stepping onto the roof with ease.

The two most important people in his life stood further away, Mei dressed in her official robes, Ao by her side.

Chojuro suddenly felt his stomach lurch at the sudden spike of anxiety that coursed through him, instantly regretting eating the breakfast Ao had taken him out to in celebration before they began their big day.

“Lord Chojuro? You’re looking a bit green,” one elder said. “Are you alright?”

“I-I’m fine,” Chojuro lied.

Mei turned around upon hearing them talk, a smile spread across her face that put some of his anxiety at ease.

He grew closer, and she held a hand out, his sliding into her grasp as if fate had designed it.

Perhaps it had been fated that he had that encounter with his mother all those years ago, leading up to their bond growing closer over the years and the adoption.

“You look very handsome,” Mei said, taking his hands in hers. Chojuro scanned her face, noticing the tremble in her lip, the way her eyes were mistier than the village. “Let’s start, okay, Chojuro?”

“Yes, Mom,” he nodded, and it took everything Mei had in her to steel herself from crying.

She would have plenty of time to cry after the ceremony.

It was Chojuro’s time to shine, after all.

“Go on,” Ao nudged him. “Go address your village, Rokudaime,”

The soft smile he gave Chojuro was enough to make the new Mizukage’s lip tremble, having to postpone his appearance by a minute to let him collect himself before taking Mei’s hand and going to address the village as it’s new leader for the very first time.

The cheering from the people was deafening, Mei unable to hear a thing as she announced her resignation and his appointment as her successor, holding Chojuro’s hand tight in hers above their heads.

Ao watched from behind them, unable to stop the smile on his face as he watched the little family they had found in one another before him.

Watching Chojuro stand before the village, only stuttering slightly through his speech that Ao had helped him write, he felt immensely proud of the man he had become.

After all, Chojuro had the best woman as his mentor, Mei turning her head to give Ao a smile, her teary eyes only noticeable to those near her.

He was so proud of the both of them. Mei had fought for everything she had wanted to change, and she had gone further beyond her original goals and dreams, completely worthy of her title as Mizukage. Chojuro had grown so much from the geeky little teenager he had first encountered, now a leader. He was even starting to grow out his facial hair, something Ao would have laughed at years ago, but Chojuro was looking older.

Seeing Mei, barely on the cusp of forty yet still looking as if she were still in her twenties, Chojuro as a grown man, before barely reaching her shoulder and now equal height with Ao, made his heart clench.

He felt incredibly old, but for once, he wasn’t complaining. It meant that his loved ones were maturing, shifting into a new phase of their lives.

Mei felt as if she had swallowed a swarm of butterflies, her stomach fluttering as she felt Chojuro hold her arm tightly.

It felt surreal. She had dreamed of her wedding since she was a little girl, but now that it was actually happening, she felt a mixture of anxiety and joy.

Chojuro sniffled by her side, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket to swipe at the tears that were threatening to fall. Mei gave him a reassuring look, wishing she wasn’t holding the bouquet of bluebells and ivory roses so that she could rest a hand on his face.

“I’m just so happy,” Chojuro said, recollecting himself. “You two were always like parents to me,”

“Chojuro, dear, we are your parents,”

“I know, but now it’s going to be real,” he sniffled. “We shouldn’t keep Ao waiting. You know how he is,”

Mei laughed, feeling the nerves fade away as her son prepared to give her away.

All eyes were on Ao, and if it wasn’t his wedding, he would have run as far as possible to get out of the gaze of the attendees.

“You look fine,” Katasuke reassured him, giving him a thumbs up. “Look,”

Ao turned his gaze to the end of the aisle, Mei trying to hold onto a very emotional Chojuro as they attempted to make their first steps, Chojuro nearly dropping the wedding bands as he blinked the tears from his eyes.

She was so beautiful that the sight of her took his breath away and had Katasuke not known that it was from her he would have been concerned. As she made her way towards him, the former and current Kage watching her, Tsunade with a smirk of joy on her face, Ao felt like the luckiest man in the world.

Mei’s gaze fell on her fiancé, unable to stop smiling as she took in the sight of him. Her heart raced as she saw the awed look on his face, the way he always looked at her as if she were the most precious treasure in the world. She nearly melted at how handsome he was, the rare sight of him in a suit tantalizing. Though he would refrain from taking photos, she was definitely forcing him into multiple to capture his striking look.

Chojuro handed her off to Ao, Mei taking his hands in hers firmly.

The elder officiating the wedding went through the standard vows of Kirigakure, Ao unable to take his eyes off of Mei as she stared at him with a soft look full of love.

“Lady Fifth,” the elder said. “Your vows?”

“Oh,” Mei pulled herself from staring at her partner to look at the elder before returning her gaze to Ao. “Ao,”

She gave his hands a reassuring squeeze, feeling him squeeze back.

“I vow to always protect you from harm, to stand with you against your troubles and to look to you when I need protection. I promise to listen to your advice, even if I don’t always take it. I promise to not only listen but to hear, even if it’s your nagging,”

There was a light bit of laughter from the audience, Chojuro having to stifle his giggle behind the hand holding the bands.

“I promise faithfulness and patience, respect and lightheartedness, attentiveness and self-improvement. I will celebrate your triumphs and love you all the more for your failures. I vow to grow old with you. I have and will love you faithfully and unconditionally through difficult and easy times. What may come, I promise to always be there with love and support. You’re the only man I have ever wanted to spend the remainder of my lifetime with, and I vow to be not just your wife, but also your pillar of support, and most importantly, your friend.”

Mei’s voice broke at the last word of her vows, pursing her lips together as she tried not to break out into a mess of tears.

Ao, however, looked two seconds from crying as bad as Chojuro was.

The elder gave him a moment as Mei reached up to wipe a tear from his cheek, Ao taking a deep breath before the elder nodded for him to give his vows.

“Mei, I never would have imagined that out of all the people in this world, I would find someone as special as you. You are my best friend and my one true love. I cannot believe I am the lucky man who gets to marry you today. I promise I will never forget this privilege, no matter how many years of our lives go by. I love you, now and forever,”

Mei held his hand tightly, giving him one of her many beautiful smiles as he swallowed the lump growing in his throat.

“I promise to be there to catch you if you should stumble, carry you if you need me, and fall in love with you every day,” he continued. “I am so happy to be able to tell you that I love you. I always will. You look so beautiful to me today, but know that you always look beautiful to me and will always be this beautiful to me, tomorrow, and the next day and the next. As gorgeous as you are right here and right now, I will only love you more and more each day of our marriage. You’ll always be my shining beauty, my wonderful Mizukage, and I love you-”

Mei didn’t even let the elder officially pronounce them as husband and wife before she grabbed Ao’s face in her hands, kissing him. She could barely register Tsunade giggling with Ay and Kakashi, too focused on the man who was now her husband.

They had kissed hundreds of times at this point, but Ao would always remember the way she kissed him that day, how sweet and chaste it was as they pulled apart, smiling at each other. He rested his forehead against hers, his hand going to rest on her waist as hers wrapped around his.

He would gladly live the rest of his life as Ao Terumi, forever hers.

The news of the former Mizukage’s marriage made front page news of almost every newspaper in the Five Great Nations, the bold print announcing the ceremony alongside several pictures.

Ao looked too stiff in his kimono, a fake smile on his face as he posed for the first picture he definitely did not want. Mei had her arm wrapped around his waist, pulling him close to her as she gave a dazzling smile to the camera, her hair pulled back to reveal her beautiful face, the beautiful white and pale blue of her uchikake so very her. Chojuro, the newly appointed Mizukage, was at Mei’s other side crying, the photo snapped as he was wiping the tears from his eyes, his goggles resting atop his head. The caption mentioned the happy family and how no one in the attending audience could keep a dry eye at the Man of Honor’s speech Chojuro gave through his tears, bringing even the stoic groom to shed a tear. The next photo was taken of the newlyweds, Mei having changed into a form fitting wedding dress adorned with pearls, Ao in a suit as he smiled brightly at her, mid-spin in their first dance. Another photo of all the Kage together with the happy couple accompanied it, as well as a photo of the former Godaimes, Mei and Tsunade laughing together. The article prattled on about how the former Mizukage was setting a new standard for wedding attire, nothing much discussing her husband other than the fact that the two were planning on honeymooning at her family’s old summer home on one of the many scattered islands in the Land of Water.

Mei would never grow tired of waking up at her husband’s side.

Ao slept more peacefully after they both retired their duties, even though Mei was still considered Chojuro’s advisor. They had decided to get married a few months after Chojuro officially took office to allow him to adjust before they went off for their little retreat.

The stress of the village resting on her shoulders had been worth it to be able to hold him in her arms, his head resting on her shoulder as his hand wrapped around her side, holding her close. While he clung to her as he slept, Mei would only slightly complain about how his hair tickled her nose or how heavy he was sleeping half on her, but she would never dare wake him up unless she really needed to get out of bed.

It was the first morning of their honeymoon, the sun streaming lazily into the room as the morning began. Her old family home had remained untouched since the last time she had visited years ago, a comfortable escape from the world so they could just focus on each other.

Mei held him close, pressing a kiss to the top of Ao’s head before closing her eyes.

Sleeping a bit longer wouldn’t be terrible. She had all the time in the world to spend with him, the rest of their lives together full of endless opportunities.

“I hope Chojuro is doing well,” Ao said, his hand in Mei’s.

“He’ll be fine,” Mei said. “We’re only going to be away for two weeks. I doubt he’ll cause much trouble,”

She laughed, leaning her head onto his shoulder as she looked out onto the horizon of the ocean, Kirigakure a small dot off to the east. The sun was beginning to set, the sky a painting of orange and purple hues.

“Mei?”

She hummed, looking up at the man she had the pleasure to call her husband.

“I love you,” he said. “I love you so much,”

She laughed, cupping his face in her hands as she peppered his face in kisses.

“I love you, too. Forever and always?”

“Forever and always,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's done! This note is going to be a bit long because I wanted to give some of my final thoughts! 
> 
> I wanted to incorporate Kara somehow, and I had a while ago a chapter in mind where Ao and Kashin Koji would have met before he went back to the Mist, but I didn't like how it came out and it didn't fit as well, so I scrapped it and did this instead. Mei creating a warpath to get to her man? Yup. Also, I'm not good at action scenes, so sorry for not including Mei kicking Kashin Koji's ass, but it kind of was a tie since killing him off would be too easy. 
> 
> The parts with Misuno and Shizuma were quick little thoughts that popped into my head while working today, and I wanted to incorporate Chojuro's future bodyguard. I usually write Shizuma being Kisame's kiddo (as seen in my new Swordsman fic, but Itachi's also his biological parent in that one, too. The mystery woman was just a random thought to make it make sense since Shizuma would be like eight in the timeline of my fic) and I wanted to incorporate something that would tie Mei to the next generation through her former teammate (in my au).
> 
> I totally cried writing Chojuro's inauguration. He's super emotional, and it's because I was super emotional writing this last chapter.
> 
> I had to look up a bunch of wedding vow templates to write their vows, but they're married! Chojuro is Mizukage, but also still forever their baby! I originally was going to end this where they didn't get married and they were just together, but with how Mei is about marriage (as much as I dislike it) I realized it would be better if they did get married. 
> 
> Thank you all so much for reading and commenting! Your feedback made this fic continue (and get so long, I didn't realize how long it was until just today!) It means a lot <3 Much love, and once again, thank you all soooooooooo much! <3 :)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Comment and let me know what you think! :)


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